The Night-gaunt took him right back to the very same roof he had occupied with Herbert West, and there the doctor was, standing with a puzzled look on his face, his arms outstretched.
The Night-gaunt dropped him, rose up, and evaporated into the night.
“Jehovah,” Herbert said, concern in his voice. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Herbert,” Jehovah replied, visibly shaken by the ordeal. “I’m not sure what happened just now, but that was one hell of a trip.”
“And what trip would that be Jehovah?” Herbert asked. “You never left the roof.”
Vicious Jelly
The pre-cosmic clusterfuck El Camino rode like a tank, but Herbert West was proud of it anyway. He had gone to great pains to overhaul the vehicle to withstand what the new world would throw at them. Manhole covers had been welded over the wheel wells, and corrugated steel, with narrow slits for sighting and shooting, over the windows. Herbert had even fashioned a rudimentary cow-catcher out of a large green highway sign that read “Arkham, Massachusetts 100 miles” for the front end. The bed of the car was piled high with corpses and equipment…but mostly corpses. The tarp that had covered them had blown away miles ago.
While driving through one of the many small towns that littered the scarred landscape, they had encountered a Cancer Demon that had popped in front of the car, and then was plowed up and over the roof—which caused both West and Jehovah to duck—and into the bed of the car. It was the first time Herbert had ever seen a Cancer Demon die; it twitched for miles.
Jehovah was curled up on the floor in a blanket West had removed from a corpse in one of the random houses they had searched. He stood, stretched and hopped up into the seat.
“This might be the best road we’ve traveled so far,” he said.
“This is no road, Jehovah. This is what remains of the mighty Mississippi River,” Herbert replied.
Jehovah looked out the window as best he could at the bone-white riverbed. It stretched a mile or more wide and went on for as far as he could see. Up ahead he saw something that made him pause: the skeletons and carcasses of locomotive-sized catfish.
“Oh, I see,” is all Jehovah could say.
West dodged one of the catfish corpses, its head the only thing sticking out of the dried mud. It looked to be large enough to swallow the car, and its occupants, whole. At one point, West actually swerved into the exposed ribcage of one of the fish just to prove the point (mostly to amuse himself, as Jehovah could barely see through the windows).
“Believe it or not, Jehovah, the fish probably lurked within the Mississippi River waters before the change,” West said. “Strange things lurked these lands even before all of this happened.” He used his left arm to wave it in a sweeping arc towards the land outside his window.
Jehovah said something in reply, but it fell on deaf ears, as West saw what looked like a living, breathing catfish in the shadows at the river’s edge; only this one was walking on elephantine legs. He kept this to himself, and they kept moving forward.
“We will need to get fuel soon,” he said to no one in particular.
The El Camino ran on several different fuels (another of West’s modifications), so refueling usually wasn’t a problem, but they did seem to be in the middle of nowhere, so he started to slow down to conserve fuel.
West was looking for a bridge or a break in the tree line at the river’s edge, somewhere, anywhere that might indicate a road or a way out of the river, when Jehovah, his paws on the dashboard, said, “West…what…the…fuck…is…”
West looked ahead, but it was too late. A mass of writhing tendrils, pulsating spheres, bulbous eyes and distorted faces stretched from one side of the river to the other, and so high that it blocked the sky.
The last thing Herbert saw before the cow-catcher punctured the side of the creature was a mass of tentacles—some tipped with blinking eyes, some with claws, and others with funnel-shaped mouths ringed with teeth —speeding towards the car.
And then they were inside the belly of the beast.
It was hard for West to get a bearing on what was going on through the window slits, but from what he could see, the creature was a balloon filled with a viscous jelly, and they were now floating in it.
The rush of jelly towards the hole they rent in the creature’s side almost pushed them back out, but their momentum kept the car moving forward. The spinning tires acted as gyroscopes and, for the time being, kept them upright
“Fascinating; we are actually inside the creature, floating through a sea of protoplasm,” West said, his eyes wide. “I wish I could see more…or better yet, get a sample.”
“A sample? That’s what you’re thinking about right now? A sample?! Don’t open the fucking door, Herbert!” Jehovah replied.
“I understand our situation, Jehovah,” he said, “but that doesn’t keep one from being inquisitive.”
The engine had cut out some time ago, but the creature's undulations caused waves in the jelly that pushed them ever-forward. The further they traveled, though, the more disoriented they became. There was no longer a feeling of up or down, as far as they could tell, no left or right. The car just floated, the jelly pushed on all sides, the metal groaning but holding. The windows held too, but that worried West.
“Now that, I didn’t expect,” West said, as the face of the dead Cancer Demon filled his window. He could see that other things had left the bed of the El Camino as well; bodies, body parts and equipment all floated into view.
“What’s going on?” Jehovah asked. “I can’t see a goddamned thing.”
Like a Great White Shark pushing through a diver’s cage, a hideous creature smashed into the front window of the car. The slightly wider opening in the steel afforded them an unfortunate look at the creature’s continence. Mostly teeth and eyes, the creature was long, slender and powerful, rotating fins propelling it through the jelly.
“What the hell is that thing?” Jehovah asked, his front paws once more on the dash.
The creature turned, whipped its tail and darted towards a cadaver floating nearby; its gnashing teeth made short work of it.
“If I had to guess, I’d say that this creature lacks the necessary organs to survive, and these…these floaters have formed a symbiotic relationship with it. They eat, and then emit waste, which sustains the creature,” West replied. “But that is just a theory.”
Something large hit Jehovah’s side of the car, causing him to return to his bed on the floor, and a noticeable shift in the cars direction could be felt. Through the window, West could see many more of the floating abominations amassing. Shapes and sizes varied, but most were long, eel-like beasts with long teeth and large eyes.
“It’s almost like they can smell the bodies, Jehovah. Like a shark.” He continued, “Have you ever heard the term, ‘feeding frenzy?’”
Then it happened.
The car was getting hit from all sides, the creatures darting in and out, grabbing bodies out of the bed of the car, pushing it in different directions. Jehovah was noticeably shaken, but West was in a scientific stupor, oblivious to the possibilities.
“What if the car turns over, Herbert? What if they crack one of the windows and that jelly shit gets in? West, are you listening to me? West?!” Jehovah was pissed now.
“Yes, Jehovah. Those things are possible, but at the moment, we seem safe enough; and honestly, I have no idea what to do,” he replied. “I don’t even know where we are. Has the larger creature moved on, taking us with it? We’ve been floating in here for some time now, and we’ve yet to run into the edge of the beast. Our biggest issue may be that we could run out of oxygen before we escape.”
Another round of hits, and the car was really starting to spin out of control. Herbert found himself with his back against the side window and Jehovah on his chest. Another hit righted the car, but even West, it seemed, had had enough.
Another face smashed itself against the front window, its eyes rolling, its mou
th gapping. The smooth, slippery skin of the creature was an iridescent purple, ridges of luminous fins running down its side.
“We need to figure a way out of here,” West said, and checked to see that the car was still running. It wasn’t. The jelly seemed to have smothered the engine, either through the compartment or through the muffler.
“If I can just get the car running, maybe we can use the tires’ rotation as twin propellers to move us forward,” West continued.
Another creature—this one green and encased in a pearlescent shell—was also ramming the window. Behind them, West could see others; some with limbs, others with what appeared to be “boney wheels” that sliced through the jelly.
“You must admit, Jehovah, this is an amazing, self-contained ecosystem of creatures we are witnessing,” he said.
“Fuck that,” was all Jehovah could muster.
The biggest creature yet, fully fifty feet in length, came into view, and the others scattered. West could no longer see any bodies or parts floating in the immediate area, and a quick look behind him showed that the car’s bed was empty. The creature, which looked like a tapeworm with “cupped” sails just behind its head, was pushing its bulk forward by using those cups to displace the jelly. It moved at a slower pace than its brethren, but it would be there, and soon.
“Can you see anything indicating our position, Jehovah? Think of this as being underwater; look towards the ‘light.’ That thing looks big enough to eat the car, and I don’t think we should stick around to find out if it is,” he said.
“I see light everywhere, Herbert,” Jehovah replied. “Light from the creatures, light from the…even the fucking jelly is glowing.”
The creature continued its slow dig towards them, displacing so much protoplasm that the car was actually sinking towards the bottom of the leviathan. With a thud, they bottomed out, and Herbert turned the key one more time. The engine whined, caught, and rumbled to life. Herbert hit the gas, and the contact patches on the tires grabbed and pushed forward; they slowly inched along, but forward they went, and soon they were driving under the creature, and it had to turn to turn to give chase. Several of the smaller beasts had returned and were now the bigger threat, in that they could move quicker and were already upon them. One of them slammed into the back of the car, propelling it forward, but threatening to give it lift, which would render the tires useless. West hit the brakes and slammed it in reverse, smashing the creature’s face into the tailgate and sending it streaking into the jelly.
The larger creature was making its way downward, and the suction (at such a close range) was now pulling the car up.
West gunned it and it surged forward towards its unknown destination. More of the smaller creatures were entering the fray, and the larger one slowed to engage them. West took this opportunity to move away from the battle, but a hit to the roof told him that they hadn’t been forgotten.
“West, slime! West! We’ve got slime in the car!” Jehovah exclaimed as he jumped up and down in the passenger seat.
That last hit to the roof had broken the seal to the rear window and tiny tendrils of jelly were oozing into the cabin. West turned, looked, but didn’t reply as the tendrils reached out for him. He continued to give the car gas, and the car continued to push on…but on to where, he couldn’t tell.
They were both thrown forward as the big creature arrived and slammed its toothy maw into the back of the car. It was fully big enough to eat them and the car whole, but its mouth wouldn’t open wide enough to get them in, so it continued to ram into the car, threatening to tear it apart. Stress cracks appeared in the back window and raced towards the edges.
In the cab, the leaking had worsened, and Jehovah crawled into the floor to distance himself from the slime.
“Do something, Herbert!” Jehovah said. “Get us the hell out of here!”
“I’m working on it, Jehovah. Patience, my friend,” West replied, but it was obvious that he was worried.
“Herbert, look up ahead! I can see something through the jelly!” Jehovah returned.
The larger creature was suddenly pulled backwards, causing the El Camino and many of the smaller creatures to go with it.
Herbert turned and saw the cause of this: the largest creature they had encountered yet was in the process of swallowing the fifty-foot beast whole. It was unimaginably long—the length of a football field or more—and its body was shaped like a corkscrew that turned in the jelly, shooting it forward at a very high rate of speed. Its face was hard to discern because it spun with its body, but that didn't prevent it from feeding on its smaller counterpart, and then targeting them.
The cracked back window was about to give way to the mass of jelly pushing against it, and Herbert knew that the creature that had just arrived on the scene would be feasting on their corpses if it gave way, so he once again focused on getting them the hell out of there.
West looked ahead, and sure enough, he could see the riverbed. It was further away now than it had been a minute before, but it wasn't out of reach, and that encouraged him.
The corkscrew beast was swallowing the smaller ones as it moved forward, but it was also pushing jelly ahead of it, causing a wave that rolled along and lifted the car from the bottom that it was traveling along.
It was pushing them to safety!
Once more, the car bottomed out, and West gunned it. This time the tires grabbed big chunks of ground and pushed them forward, the cow-catcher rupturing the outer wall of the creature and spilling the car and the viscous jelly onto the sun-cracked ground.
Both West and Jehovah looked behind them and saw that the large beast was reacting to their escape by mutating and sending tentacles of jelly in all directions, attempting to capture and pull them back towards it. In the opening that they had made, the corkscrew creature and several smaller ones had spilled out, and it was obvious that the air around them was doing all manner of harm. Their bodies convulsed and shriveled, drying up and turning to dust before blowing away in the atomic wind.
Even before the floaters perished, the hole in the side of the beast was repairing itself, closing up and containing all but a little of the escaped protoplasm. Other floaters could be seen pushing themselves against the outer skin, causing random faces and blinking eyes to be seen from the outside.
The reaching tendrils grabbed the car and pulled, ripping off the tailgate and back bumper before West could give it enough gas to outpace them.
Through the back window, Herbert could see an incredibly large, unblinking eye appear on the side of the thing and stare them down as they sped off.
“It seems that we've survived that little episode relatively unharmed, Jehovah,” Herbert said. “Wouldn't you agree?”
Jehovah yelped, and Herbert turned to see the jelly that had entered through the back window had gathered into a very small version of the blob that had blocked their way, and was now attacking his companion.
Small tentacles of jelly gripped Jehovah around the waist and were pulling him towards the mass. It did something Herbert hadn't seen the larger one do, in that it had an opening that could only be described as a mouth (or entry point, at any rate), and was about to toss Jehovah into it.
“Do something, Herbert!” Jehovah screamed, and the doctor reacted.
Herbert West slammed on the breaks, opened his door, and grabbed the mass in one very quick motion. He tossed it out the door, and it was dust before it hit the ground.
Then he squealed the tires, and they continued down the smoothest road in the new world…
Sheet Metal Apocalypse
Herbert West jerked the steering wheel of his junk-punk El Camino sharply to the right as the creature lurched into view. The car complained, but responded by mounting an embankment on the side of the road. Jehovah complained in turn, as he was thrown violently to the floor. When they came to a stop, Herbert leaned over, checked on his companion, then put the car in reverse and gunned the engine, but the ground was soft, and the cow-catcher
he had mounted to the front of the vehicle had dug into the soil, holding the car hostage. Herbert turned to see what the creature was doing, only to find that it had stopped and was standing in the middle of the road.The body of what he saw was thick, but porous—its skin almost chitinous—and its core was alive with fire. Every time it lifted one of its tree trunk legs (which were partially recessed into its torso), flames ignited in its belly. Its rudimentary arms ended in fingerless spikes, and its head was a boulder, features abstractly carved into its face. Its barrel chest, which was burnt crimson in colour, was scorched black from its internal engine. The creature’s means of locomotion reminded Herbert of organic pistons.“You mind telling me what that is?” Jehovah said, picking himself up off the floor.“An Inferno Golem,” Herbert said matter-of-factly.“How is it, Herbert, that you always know what these things are called?” Jehovah asked.“The usual means, my friend—apocalypse poets, voices on the wind and my own scientific understanding, of course,” he replied.The fire within the beast had dulled to glowing coals and it stood completely still, offering no movement what-so-ever.“We’ll leave the car and return for it when the creature has gone,” he said, as he opened the car door and stepped out, Jehovah bounding behind him.
They stood for a moment, watching the creature, and Herbert thought to himself, that of all the things he had encountered in the new world, this one had to be the most bizarre.
“I would suggest that we take the embankment and see where that leads us,” he continued. “I rather doubt that thing could follow us there if it again stokes its fire.”
So they climbed, the El Camino and its conqueror below them, the sun, a smoldering ember behind copper clouds, above them. The climb was short-lived and they soon rounded the top of the hill, where the air was as stale as a corpse’s breath; unlike the lowlands, where a cool breeze snaked its way through the valley, causing the tarp on his corpse pile to flap. He looked back and noted that an arm—not at all human—had wormed its way from under the tarp, and was gently drumming the side of the vehicle.
Re-Animated States of America Page 6
