The Bleed: Book 2: RAPTURE

by David Moody

  TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  PROLOGUE

  — THE MOON —

  Chapter 1

  — SURFERS PARADISE, AUSTRALIA —

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  — THE MOON —

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  — LONDON —

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  — EO —

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  — About the Authors —

  David Moody

  Chris Philbrook

  Mark Tufo

  The Bleed Trilogy

  Copyright page

  Prologue

  Some battles are lost long before the fighting even begins.

  Throughout the ages, thousands of chroniclers have penned thousands of pages about war. Endless volumes detailing tactics and strategy line countless library shelves alongside well worn tomes discussing the philosophies of battle: Knowing so well your enemy that you can decimate morale, break them utterly, and crush them to into the ground.

  Thousands of books have been written by thousands of authors through the ages about war. There were endless volumes about tactics and strategy, whole library shelves filled with tomes on the philosophy of battle. Countless treatises had been prepared on how to beat an enemy; how to anticipate their actions, break their morale, then crush them into the ground.

  Not one word of the millions written counted for anything against the Bleed.

  The Bleed’s insidious attack began on many fronts at once, the demonic entity tightening its bloody grip on worlds separated by vast gulfs in time, space and reality. It was everywhere and nowhere; impossible to track down and hunt, yet equally impossible to avoid.

  This was an enemy that fought without emotion or fatigue, or any desire for cessation. A monstrous, unholy force that never showed mercy. The Bleed didn’t care to win, it just wanted everyone else to lose. It existed to annihilate.

  Go back to those same war books and read all they have to say about the importance of the strength of an army. Study what they tell you about fighting with clarity and confidence and with well communicated aims and objectives, then be prepared to forget all you’ve just learnt. Not one tenet of that long-held wisdom would make the slightest difference in a fight against the Bleed. Its brutal, bloody, relentless approach drove divisions between friends and turned allies into adversaries. The Bleed separated and suffocated populations. It silenced, terrified destroyed.

  Hope lay in the hands of a few individuals, but they were scattered across impossible distances and unaware of each other’s existence. The gods tried to help them unite, while the Bleed did all it could to keep them apart.

  1

  The Moon

  Five minutes ago and two hundred and eighty nine thousand miles away

  “We’re dead. We’re absolutely dead,” Maddie, the lead mechanic on the now non-existent moon base, Etna, said as she stepped through the cascading water.

  “I don’t feel dead,” Tyler Kincaide, Samantha Morrison’s boyfriend, replied. He’d grown up on the lunar surface and had not taken much in his life seriously, until he’d started dating Sam, and definitely when he’d held his dying friend, Juan, in his arms.

  “And you know what feeling dead is like?” Derrick Morrison, Sam’s brother, was up ahead a few steps, touching the smooth walls of the cave.

  Sandra Morrison, the mother of the twins, was the last through. She’d been all too willing to let others, even her own kids, do the heavy work when it came to exposing oneself to danger.

  “What is this place?” Tyler was moving toward a bend in the corridor.

  “Hold on, space boy. You can’t already be forgetting our battle out there, can you?” Derrick asked.

  “I’ll never be able to forget,” he replied solemnly.

  “Nice one.” Sam smacked her brother on the shoulder.

  “What? I was serious. We have no idea what’s in here with us.” He rubbed the sore spot.

  “This can’t be here.” Sandra was looking around.

  “I’m thinking that creature actually got the best of us. We died, the water was the River Styx, we’ve crossed over into the afterlife, we’re in that proverbial tunnel, and there’s a white light. Not sure we need any more proof.” Maddie didn’t believe her words, yet they kept spilling out. It made sense, in a storybook way.

  “The mythology that uses the River Styx makes no mention of a lighted tunnel.” Derrick spoke low as he cautiously followed Tyler.

  Sandra hung back as the rest of the group made it to the bend and were peeking their heads around. “Is it safe?” she asked.

  Maddie looked back to shake her head. “You’re unbelievable.” And the group continued.

  “You guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Tyler asked.

  “It’s a good bet no one is thinking what you’re thinking,” Maddie told him.

  “That’s funny.” Derrick smiled.

  Tyler continued, unfettered. “That bug thing, it couldn’t have fit through this passage.”

  Derrick wanted to tell him that he was wrong; exoskeleton creatures could flatten themselves to a fraction of their normal size, so it could have easily made it through. He decided to keep the thought to himself when he saw the relief that flooded his sister’s face. He looked back at his mother, who was doing her best to give enough distance between herself and the group in front, should they encounter trouble while also balancing how far she wanted to be behind, should anything sneak up from the back.

  “It’s getting darker,” Sam noted.

  They’d been walking so long, expecting danger at every turn. Maddie hadn’t noticed, but when they’d first come in, they’d been able to see clearly for fifty-foot stretches or more, depending on the terrain, but now it was barely ten. “We’re going to have to make a group decision soon. We can’t keep going forward without any light.” She also knew that going back offered its own set of challenges. They would have water, and, if need be, they could start eating the bug that attacked them. She was hungry, but she wasn’t that hungry yet. And could Tyler even conceive of eating the beast that had killed Juan? She didn’t think so.

  “I say we keep going, I mean, for as long as we can.” Sam was looking at the group. “We know what’s back there.”

  “Sorry, Sis, but I think we should go back. We have everything we need back there to survive.”

  Maddie figured that Derrick was thinking upon the same lines as she.

  Surprisingly, it was Tyler that broke the immediate tie. “I’m for moving forward, and not just because Sam says so. Which of you is going to eat raw bug? Not like we can collect firewood.”

  Maddie could knot it back up if she wanted to; as far as she was concerned, Sandra didn’t have a vote in the matter.

  “Maddie, it’s up to you.” Sam was watching her intently.

  “We’ll keep going for now, but once we can’t
see our hands in front of our face, it will be too dangerous. At that point, we’ll have to go back. Can we all agree on that?” Sam and Derrick nodded. “Tyler? There could be pitfalls, more creatures, forks in the path, we could get lost in here.”

  Tyler reluctantly agreed. Privately, he didn’t think he could go back, ever, but he was going to bide his time and hope that in the end, they found a way through. None of them had any idea as to what lay ahead; they could only hope it was better than what they’d encountered thus far.

  “I wish we’d grabbed some water.” Sam leaned against a wall and wiped her brow. They’d been walking another hour and were getting weary for it.

  While they were taking a breather, Maddie walked back a few steps. She had a hard time being able to see Sandra, who was less than ten feet away.

  “We can’t keep going on,” the woman said breathlessly.

  “Go back. I don’t think anyone will miss you,” Maddie told her.

  “I still have one bullet,” she sneered.

  “Good. You can use it on yourself.” Maddie turned her back and sat with the group.

  Sandra smiled when she reached into her pocket and found a couple of extra shells.

  “I was hoping it would get better.” Derrick was holding his hand up, noticing how dim it appeared. “I’ve been thinking on the light source; it has to be reflected light, so it makes sense the further we go in, or as the moon rotates, the less light. It could just be a matter of waiting until tomorrow.”

  “Sleep here?” Sam asked. “Are you serious?”

  “I know I’m exhausted.” Maddie had slid down with her back against the wall.

  “We’ll have to set up a guard. I can do the first shift,” Derrick said. “We only need to watch the front; we should have plenty of warning from the back.” He was referring to where his mother sat.

  “Get me up in two hours.” Maddie handed him her watch; it glowed in a soft, ghostly green hue.

  For most of an hour, Derrick sat there listening to the shifting around as those in the group attempted to find some comfort. After a while, it turned to rhythmic breathing, and, occasionally, there would be a mumbled word. He hoped whoever it was had found greener pastures in a dream. He spent most of his time looking at the timepiece; there was no sense in looking down the passageway. It had grown increasingly darker, and to try and see through it would only cause hallucinations. His eyes were closing when he heard something far off in the distance. His head popped up, but the slamming of his heart in his ears made it difficult to hear anything else.

  “Did I imagine that?” His words so soft, yet the sound still startled him.

  “No.” It was Maddie. Her internal clock had let her know that her shift was approaching, and she’d been having difficulty sleeping anyway.

  “Shit, Maddie! Scared the hell out of me.”

  “Get the others up quietly.” She stood, trying to figure if it had come from the front or behind. “What’s going—” The rest was muffled as Derrick placed his hand over his sister’s mouth.

  “Shh…something’s out there.”

  “What?” she whispered, she stretched her eyes wide, which did little to allow her to see anything more.

  A screech pierced the air, this one much closer. Derrick didn’t need to wake Tyler as he shot up. He punched Sandra square in the shoulder—she’d clamored to be closer to the group and had come out of the surrounding darkness and into his limited field of vision.

  “It’s coming from behind.” Maddie was mostly sure of her assertion. “We need to move.”

  “It’s pitch-black,” Sandra said, rubbing her shoulder.

  “Sorry,” Tyler told her, reaching out to rub the sore spot. She pushed him away.

  “No choice. We either move to get away from it or stay and fight.”

  “Are we voting? Because I vote for leaving,” Tyler said.

  “No vote. We’re leaving. Sandra, you’re more than welcome to stay and give us an update. Scream loudly, so we know when it has gotten through you,” Maddie told her.

  “Bitch,” Sandra mumbled as they slowly picked their way forward.

  “I think we’re going down,” Tyler said.

  “No talking.” Maddie was slowly shuffling her feet in front, hoping that at no point did they dangle over an unseen abyss.

  The going was slow; Maddie didn’t think they’d traversed more than a hundred yards since starting out ten minutes ago. If they were genuinely trying to outrun something, they were going to have to pick up the pace significantly. Another screech, this one louder and closer.

  “Was that in front of us?” Sam asked.

  Maddie was unsure. “Everyone reach out, hold on to the shoulder of the person in front of you, we’re going to move faster.”

  Derrick, do you want to change places with me?” Sandra asked her son, who was directly in front of her.

  “Unbelievable,” this from Sam.

  “Quiet back there.” Maddie was doing her utmost to keep the rising panic from washing over and submerging her within its murky depths, but her spirits were spiraling downwards. They were being chased by an unknown, into the unknown. All her life she’d striven to make sense of the world, but with so many unchartered variables in her presence, she didn’t know what to think. “Stay close. The tunnel is getting wider.” Before, she’d been able to hold her arms out and comfortably touch each side; now she had to take two steps over to get the other wall.

  “I can hear something.” Sandra’s throat was so dry it came out raspy. “It’s not far.”

  Maddie did her best not to tremble, especially with Sam’s hand on her shoulder. “We’ll be okay,” she said, more to placate herself than the girl behind.

  “Maddie, faster!” Sandra shouted.

  “Shit.” Maddie was already pushing ahead quicker than she was comfortable with. “Hold tight.” She had her hands out in front and continually swept them back and forth, making sure she didn’t run into anything face-first. She was close to a blind panic, lurching forward, expecting every next step to be her last before she plummeted into the depths of a crater. She ripped open two knuckles as they collided with a small outcropping of rocks on her left. She hoped she hadn’t broken bones, but she was more concerned that she’d now left a blood scent for whatever was chasing them to follow.

  Get it together, Maddie internalized. She stepped awkwardly and, as her right knee hyper-extended, she received the rude shock of pain from her body telling her she’d done something wrong and that she should quit doing it. She was walking gingerly, one hand pressed to her midsection as she did her best to stop the flow of blood dripping from her ragged fingers. Her body turned to the side as she struck the wall with her hip. She adjusted, thinking she’d drifted too far over, but she’d moved only half as far as she felt she needed to when her other hip struck. It took her a moment to realize that the tunnel was quickly narrowing. “No. No. No.” She was getting frantic as the walls were quite literally closing in on the group. There were grunts and gasps of surprise as those behind her began to strike the walls as well.

  Maddie had no choice but to slow down, even as the noise behind got louder; it was the scream of an animal on the hunt, one very sure of its ability to overpower its prey. Stealth was no longer required. Maddie had another thought that perhaps they were being herded, driven into the waiting teeth of more animals to the front. It was a hunting tactic that had been used ever since one creature decided to eat another. Suddenly, she screamed out as the world around her changed. For a brief moment she felt as if something had taken hold of her very soul as she sped toward an inexplicable evil.

  2

  SURFERS PARADISE, AUSTRALIA

  The woman standing in the clockwork room looked like she’d been beaten, chewed up, and spat out. Dust-covered, grubby overalls. Blood pouring from grazed knuckles. Curly red hair barely contained under her cap. An overpowering smell of oil and grease. Jenny followed her to the end of the corridor and shouted after her. “Wait…where
did you come from? How the hell did you get in there?”

  “Wish I fucking knew,” the woman shouted back, not stopping. Jenny ran after her, only catching up once she’d gone through a fire door and started down the staircase.

  “Wait,” Jenny said again, and she grabbed the woman’s shoulder.

  “I don’t know you. It would be a good idea if you got your hands off me.”

  “Look, I just—”

  With a show of force that caught Jenny completely off-guard, their positions were reversed in an instant. The woman shoved Jenny back against the wall, and now she was the one asking the questions. “Who in hell’s name are you, and how the hell did you get here? And why is there a goddamn staircase on the moon…?”

  Suddenly distracted, she relaxed her grip and stopped talking. Then she looked past Jenny before letting her go completely and climbing back up the few steps she’d just descended. She stopped in front of a two meter-square window and looked out over an uninterrupted, picture-postcard scene below: the beach at Surfers Paradise on a gloriously sunny early evening, packed with crowds soaking up the day’s last rays. She watched blue waves crashing onto the shore, kids playing without a care in the low surf that stretched away into the distance farther than she could see. Runners pounded along the strip of sand, alternately drenched in sunlight then hidden by long skyscraper shadows that reached for the ocean. Beyond the beach, traffic meandered lazily along the streets as offices closed for the day and restaurants and bars began to fill. Birds raced home through the cloudless sky overhead. It all looked so damn normal, except that it was all completely impossible.

  “What were you saying about the moon?” Jenny asked. The woman glanced back at her over her shoulder.

  “Where am I?”

  “Australia, but—”

  “I’ve been living on the moon for years. How can I be in Australia?”

  “No one’s been to the moon since the seventies.”

  “Well I was there five minutes ago…”