Sam Black Shadow

by Paul Berry

  ‘Dead. Not in the traditional sense, but she’s suffering for what she did.’

  ‘As will you,’ Dr Stone says.

  Smith takes out a stun gun, the blue arc sputtering from it briefly lighting up the room like a firework. ‘I’ve missed you, freak.’

  I follow Dr Stone downstairs, Smith prodding the stun gun against my back.

  ‘Try to run,’ he murmurs into my ear. ‘I can’t wait to use this on you again.’ We leave through the front door. Parked on the road is the same black Mercedes that took me to Jupiter Hill. Dr Stone opens the back door.

  ‘Recognise it? It seems your sad life is doomed to repeat itself.’ I slide onto the soft leather and Smith gets in beside me, crackling the stun gun next to my ear. Dr Stone gets behind the wheel and slams the door, pressing the button on the dashboard that locks the car.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ I ask.

  ‘Where do you think? Back to Jupiter Hill. Back to where you belong.’ The engine thrums into life and he drives down the road.

  ‘I’m not the same as I was before. That thing, that vampire inside me, is gone forever.’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  ‘What, no clever comeback?’ I ask.

  Smith digs the stun gun into my ribs. ‘You’ll like my comeback.’

  ‘Maybe I will.’ I grit my teeth, waiting for the electricity to scorch me, but he snorts and clips it back on his belt.

  We reach Jupiter Hill in silence, the dawn light slowly leaching away the night. For the first time in years the light looks clearer, as though the sun is not struggling to shine through some tainted mantle.

  ‘Not quite as it was before,’ Dr Stone says as he drives through the buckled metal gates, the devil-tail spikes pointing haphazardly in different directions. The front of Jupiter Hill is a blackened ruin of shattered concrete and twisted metal girders like a destroyed bomb shelter.

  ‘Your mother thought she’d covered her tracks by burning us. But we’ll rebuild. We always do.’ He presses the dashboard button and all the locks click up. Smith opens the passenger door and gets out. He motions at me with the stun gun and I clamber out.

  Dr Stone points to the centre of the devastation. ‘Fortunately, the inferno didn’t completely destroy the lower levels. Some of your comrades survived. They’ve missed you.’ Smith prods me forward and we walk down a makeshift path between the rubble. At the end is a square hole, the sides illuminated by vertical rows of lights around a metal ladder. I realise it is the lift shaft.

  ‘Ladies first,’ Smith sneers, pushing me towards it.

  ‘And if I don’t want to go down?’

  ‘Then you’ll get to the bottom without the help of the ladder. It will be rather painful trying to walk on shattered legs.’ I bend down and grasp the top rung, stepping into the gloom, grimacing at the acrid smell of smoke, feeling like I’m descending a giant chimney. I step off the final rung onto the square of charred rubble that fills the rest of the shaft.

  The walls of the hall are blackened with smoke, the floor smeared with a greasy layer of soot. There is a faint smell of burnt meat, and I gag when I realise what has caused it.

  In the centre of the hall is a grimy chair, the one from the interrogation room. I hear the clangs of Smith as he comes down the ladder. He reaches the bottom, grabs my shoulder, marches me to it, pushes me onto the seat and pulls the restraints tight around my wrists.

  ‘We thought you’d prefer the comfort of familiarity,’ Dr Stone says, stepping off the ladder, carrying a briefcase. Behind one of the cell doors I hear moaning.

  ‘Your friends are happy that you’re home,’ Dr Stone says, pulling up a stool next to the chair. ‘Now, to business.’ I can hear Smith panting behind me, his spittle moistening the back of my neck. ‘I’m going to start asking you questions. If I think you’re lying …’

  ‘I’ll be punished,’ I say, mimicking his voice.

  ‘That is correct. He opens the briefcase and pulls out a knife.

  The knife with the symbols he cut me with when I first arrived at Jupiter Hill.

  ‘First question. Where is your mother? She left quite a mess at the college.’

  ‘I told you, she’s gone.’

  He presses the point of the blade below my knee. ‘Be more succinct.’

  ‘She’s in the Datum, trapped there forever.’

  ‘Are you telling the truth? I think you are.’ Pain tears down my leg as the tip of blade sinks into it. I scream, the sound echoing around the hall, the howls of the things in the cells growing louder. ‘Where is the crystal?’

  ‘It’s been destroyed.’ I clench my jaw, waiting for a fresh burst of pain.

  Dr Stone takes out a handkerchief and wipes the blood off the knife. ‘Don’t worry, I believe you.’

  He reaches into the briefcase and pulls out a book. ‘Do you recognise this?’ It is the Necronomicon. ‘All the other books were destroyed. Years of lore, of secrets, gone forever. This one, however, was impervious to the flames.’ The binding pulsates under a sheen of moisture. ‘You’re going to use it to open up a door to the Datum. In the meantime, we have a room waiting for you.’ He points to an empty cell, the same one they put me in when I first came here. ‘Once you’ve spent a few days in there without food or water, I’m sure you’ll be able to decipher a ritual.’

  ‘Maybe I can do it now.’

  Dr Stone strokes my cheek. ‘I’m glad you’ve decided to be cooperative. Take off the restraints.’ Smith unfastens them and I flex my hands.

  ‘I should cut off one of your fingers,’ he says, holding up his bandaged hand. ‘The index, the same one you took from me. Seems fair, wouldn’t you agree?’

  Smith gives me the book.

  I grab his wrist.

  Before he can reach for the stun gun, I concentrate on one of the cells. A rushing sound fills my ears and my stomach flips as though I’m on a rollercoaster. I’m standing inside the cell with Smith. He looks around in disbelief.

  ‘How?’ he asks. There is a groaning sound from the corner. The creature that used to be Nathaniel Peaslee crawls towards us, fleshy appendages slithering from its back. It looks at me and grins a mouth of blackened teeth. I push Smith towards it. He fumbles with his belt and pulls out the stun gun before dropping it. The creature grabs him by the ankles and he falls backwards, cracking his head against the concrete.

  ‘Help me!’ he gasps as the creature crawls on top of him. It pushes its fingers into his mouth. He gags and lets out a high-pitched squeal as his jaw is wrenched off, his legs spasming. I bend down and rifle through his pockets as a dying gurgle bubbles from the remains of his face, and I pull out a bunch of keys. One of the creature’s tentacles strokes the back of my hand.

  ‘Don’t worry, my friend,’ I say, unlocking the door. ‘Your life as a prisoner is over.’

  Dr Stone is standing at the bottom of the ladder, his hands grasping a rung, looking at me in shock.

  ‘Leaving so soon?’ I say. ‘How rude.’

  He reaches inside his jacket and pulls out the knife, his hand trembling. ‘The Syncret is coming,’ he stammers. ‘You’ll never leave this place alive.’ I pick up the stun gun, and the creature crawls next to me. The howling from the cells grows louder, almost jubilant, fists and paws banging against the metal doors.

  ‘You’re free to go,’ I say, smiling. Dr Stone drops the knife and climbs up the ladder. I walk around the cells, unlocking all the doors. In the last cell is Professor Ward.

  ‘I always knew you’d come back,’ she says, limping out, the rest of the creatures gathering around me.

  ‘Our guest has left without saying goodbye.’ I concentrate on the Mercedes and feel soft leather against the back of my head as I materialise inside it. The driver’s door clicks open and Dr Stone climbs in, panting. He turns and looks at me, his mouth a slack ‘O’ of incredulity.<
br />
  I jab him with the stun gun, holding down the button as he convulses and his trousers darken with piss. I get out and go round to the driver’s side, pull out his semi-conscious body and drag him down the rubble path until I reach the lift shaft. His eyes blink back into focus and he tries to scuffle to his feet.

  ‘Do want to use the ladder?’ I ask. He whimpers and his lips quiver as he tries to speak. ‘No? I didn’t think so.’ I push him towards the hole. He weakly clutches at my leg.

  ‘You need me,’ he slurs. I bend down and kiss his forehead.

  ‘I need you to die.’ I roll him into the shaft and he hits the bottom with a meaty smack. In the dim square of light he reaches up his bandaged hand to me, blood coursing down the side of his face.

  The creatures swarm over him and he screams as they eat.

  I concentrate until Jupiter Hill shifts out of focus and is replaced by tall hedge walls.

  I’m in the centre of the maze.

  Beside my feet is the Necronomicon. I pick it up, brush off the snow and tuck it under my arm. Helsing is perched on top of the gazebo and stares at me attentively.

  ‘Thanks for the present. Maybe the world should end soon.’ I think about Bruce and sigh. ‘But not today.’

  The sky rumbles with the promise of a storm as I navigate my way out of the maze, Helsing gliding high above me.

  First edition 2020

  © Paul Berry. All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews where the source should be made clear. For more information, contact the author.

  Cover design by Paul Palmer-Edwards

  Proofreader: Catherine Dunn