As they neared, he saw the flat plateau contained something on its surface. A mass that seemed to be alive, squirming and writhing. As he neared, Jim realised what it was: a pit, filled with lifeforms. Maggot-like creatures, yellow and grey, with bulbous eyes along their fat bodies and mouths at the head that dripped and oozed. As the huge insect that held him swooped closer, it buzzed louder, almost deafening Jim. The intermingling maggots below, that all looked to be half the size of a human, turned their open mouths up towards Jim.
They were the young of the creature that carried him, he realised. And this was their nest.
‘No!’ Jim screamed and began fighting and straining anew, but the grip of the mouth around him was too powerful. He was lowered helplessly to his doom as the giant insect landed on the edge of the pit.
Jim frantically wriggled his legs—exposed from the bottom of the vertical maw—in a desperate attempt to get free. The creature dipped its head.
Jim could not see what was happening, only stare into the maddening expanse at the top of the insect’s head. He could see those eyes. Hundreds of them.
Everything in this damned place seems to have way too many fucking eyes. It was horrifying.
Then, as Jim was dipped lower, he began to feel it.
His right leg became snared at the shins as something contracted over it. Spindly teeth dug into his skin and pulled. He screeched in pain as the flesh was stripped away in a quick motion. Jim continued to wail in agony. The thing that held him then lifted him up again, chattered, then lowered him back down. More mouths took hold below. Some reached up to the knee of his left leg, others working on the exposed bone of the right, snapping it off. He yelled helplessly and tried to think only of Ada, not the pain he prayed was temporary. Jim was hoisted up a little yet again, and the monster let out another chatter. Its body shook, then it lowered him again.
Jim had the awful feeling it was playing with him. Somehow, if insectile creatures were capable of it, it was actually enjoying his pain.
This time, however, after dipping him down, the huge mouth opened, finally releasing him. Jim dropped a short distance into the squirming and disgusting mass of the nest.
As soon as he made contact with their firm, wrinkled bodies, the enormous maggots swarmed him. Their puckering mouths—lined around the rims with sharp and spindly teeth—started to feast. One creature went straight for his stomach, burrowing into his gut. Others clamped over his arms and what remained of his legs. The agony of being eaten alive was immense. Jim could feel his flesh being sucked and stripped from his bones, causing a fiery suffering that flooded through him. Nerves were exposed, then torn free. His left arm was pulled violently away, popping from the socket. Meat and tendons kept the arm attached momentarily, but the stringy lengths of flesh soon split and the greedy monster pulled away its prize.
Jim could see the wriggling abominations all around him, fleshy and pulsating lengths of veiny fat and puss littered with small and irregular bristly hairs. The squeaky chatters the things emitted were horrifying.
The old man prayed he would just die, but his body held out—against his will—for more pain and torment.
He could feel his insides being sucked out from the vile larva that had forced its head into his guts. It moved and feasted, pushing his intestines and internal organs about as more and more of him was greedily gobbled up. Jim could feel every single sensation, as countless bites chewed at him and pulled away more and more flesh.
His vision started to fade. While the pain never let up, Jim knew he was quickly dying. He cast a look down his body, what little of it he could see that wasn’t covered with these things. It was now merely exposed flesh and bone, a skeletal outline that glistened red.
Ada.
Jim peered up to see the proud, insectile parent looking down. But it wanted its fill too, it seemed, and quickly leaned forward, opened its mouth slightly, and gently took hold of what was left of one of Jim’s arms. He was pulled free of the nest, his body raging in pain, then thrown up into the air. The horrifying mouth of the creature opened wide below him. After catching him, the mouth snapped shut around him and blocked out Jim’s vision for the last time. The last thing he saw was the fleshy and gummy insides, and Jim’s head was pressed deeply into the stinking pit. He couldn’t scream. Pressure came in from all sides, and what was left of him squashed together in a sickening mess.
Chapter 46
Beth struggled to walk, even with Josh supporting her weight. He was leading her back towards the seal, where the grass had been removed and the symbols of the Order were marked out. They had to pass that infernal black tower as well, and Beth felt a sensation emanate from it, a draw, as if there was a connection there somehow.
She thought of what grew within her.
There were faint murmurs on the clifftop, uttered by members of the Order who had stayed. However, it was painfully obvious that these few would be of no concern. All were curled up on the ground, and none were in any condition to even move. One had his thumbs buried into his eyes, and blood and clear liquid had dried on his cheeks like the slop from runny eggs. Another had clawed the face from his skin, down to the skull beneath. They sobbed and muttered insane things, their minds broken. They all had their heads turned up to the great eye in the sky.
Other than the cultists, and the dead bodies of their brethren and those creatures that had died during the earlier attack, there was something else up here as well. A body. The huge corpse of a beast—Beth would have guessed it over twenty feet tall if standing. It had black skin on a relatively thin frame, with four arms sprouting out of each side. At the ends of the arms were long hands with three fingers. A stumpy tail was nestled between two strong-looking legs, and the head of the dead thing was a thick elliptical shape, and was a mix of holes, ridges, veins, and exposed bone—seemingly a random pattern of madness. It lay on its side, stomach split open, and black intestines streaked the floor before it as if they had been pulled out by some unknown assailant.
However, one thing Beth could not see was the Dark Priest.
Even if there was a way to make it happen, there was no chance the entity would agree to help them. They reached the seal and Josh moved Beth to the centre, where he then let her drop to her knees. Aiden and Jess joined her inside, and Josh stepped away. He looked around, searching the area.
But the dark entity was nowhere to be seen. Beth kept casting glances over to the huge body that lay on its side, just to make sure that it was actually dead. The corpse hadn’t been here earlier when they’d fled from the clifftop, so something had clearly killed it recently.
‘Come out!’ Josh screamed up into the air. ‘I know you’re here. Come out!’
‘Josh!’ Beth scolded. ‘Stop shouting. God knows what you’ll bring down on us.’
But he wasn’t listening, and simply paced around frantically. ‘It’s still here,’ he said. ‘It has to be. There has to be a way.’
‘Wretches,’ a weak but distorted voice suddenly called out from somewhere beyond the large corpse. A figure slowly emerged from behind the dead beast, stumbling as it walked, keeping a hand on the armoured flesh of the husk in order to keep upright.
Black blood oozed from its mouth, an arm was missing at the elbow, and there was a nasty dent in the cranium. Lastly, the right leg was twisted and bent inwards.
It suddenly became clear what had killed the large creature on the ground, though the battle had obviously not been an easy one. Beth forced herself to a standing position.
‘You don’t look well,’ Beth taunted.
‘Your human bodies are weak. I was forced into this shell at birth. This was not my destiny.’
‘Well, now you’re fucked.’
The entity, however, just laughed. ‘I will heal soon. Just as a heart regrows inside of me now, these superficial wounds will right themselves. This weakness… is only temporary.’
That was something Beth did not want to hear.
Josh wasn’t inside t
he seal, and he stood instead between her and the slowly advancing being that had started all of this. Beth started to move over towards her brother, steadying herself on her feet. Aiden cowered in one of the inner three circles within the symbol, seated on the ground and holding on to an angry, barking Jess.
‘Tell me how to fix her!’ Josh demanded. ‘How do I get out what’s growing inside her?’
The entity just laughed again. ‘You don’t, wretch. Nothing will stop what is happening to her now. The birthing will proceed as planned. A new Great One will come into existence, Vao will cast its gaze down onto us, and the worlds will be connected as a doorway is permanently opened. And then, Ashklaar can claim all the souls it desires.’
‘Bullshit,’ Josh shouted. ‘There is a way. There has to be. Tell me!’
The thing kept limping closer, but Josh wouldn’t back down. In response, the Dark Priest raised its remaining hand and thrust it forward. Josh was thrown back a little—he stumbled a few steps before falling to the ground. The attack was much more muted than Beth had expected. She had seen the entity pull a person apart with its mind, and now it could do little more than shove someone. It really had been weakened.
Beth stepped up from the dug-out area and moved next to Josh, helping him to his feet. It took a lot of effort on her part, and she realised just how much weaker she had grown as well.
‘Get back inside the seal,’ Josh said. But she started to gently pull him back towards it as well, hoping to get him within its outer edge before she destroyed the symbols herself.
‘Come on,’ Beth pleaded. ‘You need to get out of here.’
Josh looked to her, then back to the entity. He shook his head. ‘No.’
He then broke free of her weak grasp and sprinted towards the cackling monster.
Chapter 47
If the limping demon wasn’t going to willingly tell Josh how to help his sister, then Josh knew he would have to extract that information physically.
He also knew he was insanely outmatched. However, the being was hardly at its strongest, and Josh wasn’t about to let Beth die—he had to try. But even as he sprinted, Josh’s mind—some small part of it—told him he was running to his death.
The entity gave a look of surprise before raising its remaining arm again. But Josh was quicker. He leapt into the air and slammed into the body of the demon, tackling it hard before any attack on him could be made. Both of them tumbled to the ground, with Josh landing on top of the monster. His hands quickly found its face, and he pushed his thumbs into its eyes. Black fluid pooled around his appendages and sloshed to the ground. The entity howled in pain.
Josh hadn’t known it could feel pain.
‘Tell me!’ he screamed. ‘Tell me or I’ll rip your head off!’
But the dark entity’s hand quickly found Josh’s throat. Despite fighting against it, Josh felt the grip tighten.
‘Wretch,’ it seethed again. ‘Your sister is now ours. And you will die.’ It began to slowly increase the pressure of its grip. No matter how much Josh fought, this thing was simply stronger than he was, and it pulled his head closer to its own, sneering as it did. Thinking quickly, Josh quickly dropped his face forward and took a mouthful of flesh between his teeth. Yanking back, he tore away a chunk of cold meat from the creature’s cheek, which caused more black bile to pour free. The pain forced the entity to relax its grip just enough for Josh to slip free and roll to the side. He quickly pushed himself up and swung a kick, but the dark entity blocked the blow with its arm. It then arced its hand around and Josh was thrown through the air again, back towards his sister. He landed in a crumpled pile at her feet, the wind knocked out of him.
That throw had been noticeably more powerful than the last.
‘I will tear you apart!’ the entity said with a snarl, and brought up its arm again, aiming an open hand at Josh.
But… nothing happened. The entity just stood frozen, with a confused expression etched on its pale and scarred face.
Josh turned to Beth, expecting to see her looking down at him, weak and unsteady.
But that was not what he saw.
His sister was standing strong, feet set apart, planted into the ground. Her body was locked in place, unwavering, and her arms were held out towards the demon. Her skin was now mottled and blotchy, with the black veins beneath even more pronounced. Her eyes were clear white. But she was standing firm.
‘You first,’ Beth stated, her voice ethereal, echoey… not quite human. She then quickly moved her arms apart, and Josh turned to see the dark entity cry out in agony before it was ripped in two. The head clung to the larger right side, which was pulled clean away from the left. Bones split, the legs separated, and black blood and meat showered the floor.
Josh was in awe.
But a horrible realisation overtook him. Beth was changing. And these changes occurring were now more than just surface level.
Beth wavered, her breathing suddenly heavy, and then she dropped to the floor, wheezing and drained. She turned to look at him and smiled sadly.
‘It’s over,’ she said.
‘Not yet,’ Josh replied. ‘Not until I save you.’
Josh pulled her to her feet again and hugged her. She felt cold in his arms. Eventually, she pulled away, and he looked into her blank, milky eyes.
‘This was never about you saving me.’ And with that, she swung her arms, launching Josh through the air yet again. He landed in a heap back in the seal. As he hit the ground, he rolled into Aiden, who still held Jess.
‘Beth!’ Josh cried, looking back up to his big sister.
‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘I’ve got you. I always did.’
Another sweep of her arm. The blood, guts, and markings that had made up the symbols burst apart while Josh, Aiden, and Jess remained inside of the seal’s boundary.
Josh yelled out again for his sister. He then felt a sudden and intense wave close in around him.
Chapter 48
Beth saw her brother—along with Aiden and Jim’s dog—suddenly snap from existence. The exposed earth beneath glowed red like hot embers.
After Beth had destroyed the seal, an immense wind and current had pulled inwards, gusting past her and almost blowing her from her feet. She’d felt a static shock, though the whole thing lasted only a few moments. Then, everything settled.
They were gone. The doorway was closed. The red circle had been pulled from the paper.
Beth remained now in this other world, alone. And though she knew that she could not stop what was going to happen, at least it would happen removed from her own world. There would be no permanent link, and no way for the nightmare reality to seep through and bring about a hell on earth.
Beth looked around, feeling weak, faint, and alone.
She heard a faint laughing.
It was that thing. The Dark Priest. Though it had been torn asunder, its head turned to look at Beth, and she could see the jaw rise and fall as the cackling continued. Feeling a wave of anger, she strode over to it.
‘Something funny?’ she asked through gritted teeth. ‘Because the way I see it, you failed. You’re dying. I won. My world is safe.’
It coughed black blood and spoke. ‘I can never die. I will be whole again soon. And I am home now. Your world’s safety is only a temporary reprieve. Soon, thanks to you, my creator will bear another child.’
Beth glanced up at the titanic, black column that touched the sky. Was that the kind of thing she was going to give birth to? A living nightmare?
‘Actually, no,’ she said with a smirk. ‘I still have time to put a stop to that. I see plenty of ways to die around here.’
The entity laughed again. ‘Fool. Like me, you cannot die. Not now. It is too late for that—you are too far gone. Regardless of what you try, your body will knit back together, and what is destined will take place.’
Beth clenched her teeth. ‘No, the thing inside me will die. I know it. I’ll kill it.’
The laughter grew
louder. ‘How little you know. You talk as if what is inside of you will be purged from your body when it’s ready. But there is nothing growing in you that can be pushed out. You are to be the Great One. The birthing is your… transformation, my Sister.’
It closed its eyes and continued to laugh. More anger rose in Beth.
That can’t be true. It can’t.
She brought up her foot and quickly and savagely drove the sole of her shoe down into the face of the entity, again and again, hearing cracks and squelches. With each blow, her fury built. The release felt good. Beth only stopped when the laughter died and all that was left of the Dark Priest’s head was a pool of black mush.
‘It isn’t true,’ she said and began to cry.
Chapter 49
Josh got to his feet.
He looked around, but he didn’t recognise what he saw. The dirt beneath his feet was now higher than the ground around it by a few feet at least.
The general shape of the landscape off in the distance was as he remembered it to be, but instead of seeing the buildings and streets of Netherwell Bay, there were simply the slopes and hills of the topography. No roads, no pavement, just clays and soil. The buildings had all gone, as if they had never existed.
Netherwell Bay had been wiped off the face of the earth.
The sea behind him was normal, not a boiling or blood-red mass. And there wasn’t a single nightmarish creature in sight.
‘It worked,’ he heard Aiden say. ‘We got back through. We made it!’
Josh clenched his teeth, feeling absolute anger and pain at what had just happened, at leaving Beth behind. He swung a punch at Aiden and sent him sprawling to the ground. The young man cried out, then clutched his cheek, his eyes wide with shock and fright.
‘My sister didn’t make it,’ Josh replied coldly. ‘And it's your fault.’ Josh advanced on the fallen man, who begged and pleaded, crab-walking backwards as Josh came forward.
The Extreme Horror Collection Page 64
