The others fell in behind him and unslung their AK-47s, laying them across their laps. The Purgatoriati pushed their cloaks aside for easy access to their swords. Jason cleared his mind and allowed his senses to scan the area. He did not detect any auras of Demon Spawn. In fact, he sensed nothingness, an absence in the realm, although he could not quite put his finger on it. However, he could not entirely rely on his sixth sense because it could only detect demons with souls, and not the insects they encountered in the Paris underground or the dragons in Red Square. God only knew what awaited them when they topped the rise. For a moment, Jason considered falling back and avoiding the area. He shook off that idea. Whatever they found might offer a clue to the location of the portal.
The group reached the base of the rise and ascended. A loud buzzing came from the other side. All those who had been attacked by the giant wasps outside of Falaise raised their weapons into the high-ready position. Jason almost ordered them to stand down. As his horse crested the hill, he braced himself for what they would find.
Nothing could have prepared Jason for the sight before him.
Scores of human corpses lay strewn across a grassy field, or, more precisely, what remained of the bodies. The skeletons had been picked clean of flesh and organs, leaving only cartilage and gristle attached to bones. Tattered clothes, strips of flesh, and chunks of body parts littered the ground. Dried blood stained the grass dark brown. The buzzing came from thousands of flies and wasps that covered the carnage and fed off the remains.
“Dear God,” Vicky whispered.
Father Belsario closed his eyes and crossed himself.
“Who could have done this?” Antoine asked.
“It had to be ravagers,” answered Gaston. “Nothing else could cause such damage.”
“It’s not ravagers,” said Ustagov.
“How do you know?”
“Ravagers would have ripped these people apart, not picked their bones clean.”
“Maybe they were attacked and eaten by wild animals?” offered Sasha.
“Wild animals would have eaten the other body parts as well.” Ustagov nudged his horse down the rise.
“Where are you going?” Jason asked.
“I want to get a closer look at the bodies.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“It may be more dangerous not to,” said the doctor.
“Damn.” Jason shifted his horse sideways. “Sasha and Sook-kyoung are with me. The rest of you stay here and watch for any signs of danger.”
“I should go,” offered Father Belsario.
“You’re still healing. Stay here. We’ll be back in a minute.”
By the time they reached the bottom of the rise, Ustagov had dismounted. He removed a medical face mask from his jacket and wrapped it around his mouth and nose, and then cautiously waded into the decimation field so as not to disturb the insects. Jason and Sasha dismounted a hundred feet from the edge of the carnage, gave Sook-kyoung the reins to their horses, and followed the doctor. Every step disturbed a swarm of flies and wasps that hovered around their faces. The insects were such a nuisance they overwhelmed the stomach-churning stench. Jason covered his mouth and nose with his hand and occasionally shook his head to dislodge them. They caught up with Ustagov as he knelt beside a small skeleton.
“These are the remains of a child about five years old.” Ustagov ran his hand along the bones, kicking up a black cloud of flies.
“What are you looking for?” Jason asked.
“I’ll know if I find it. Give me a few minutes.”
Jason noticed something in the grass a few feet away and walked over to it. He bent down, brushed away the insects, and picked it up. It was a stuffed panda. Blood stained the underside that had lain against the grass. It had lost one of its eyes, and a tiny crimson handprint stained one of its paws. He dropped the toy back onto the grass, disturbing a swarm that buzzed angrily around him. A wasp stung him in the leg.
Ustagov moved from one skeleton to the next, examining the remains attached to the bones. At one point, he stopped by an insect-covered mound, carefully brushed them away, and picked up a slice of human skin three feet long. Rummaging through the pile, he lifted two more pieces of skin the same length and cut. Continuing his search, the doctor stopped several more times, pushing around something with the toe of his boot before examining it.
“Are you almost ready?” Jason spat a fly out of his mouth.
“In a minute.”
“Hurry up. I’m getting eaten alive out here.”
“Trust me. You don’t want to rush me on this.”
Not able to take the insects any longer, Jason moved to the edge of the decimation field. Sasha accompanied him. Jason shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair, dislodging several flies. A few minutes later, Ustagov joined them. He held a strip of human flesh in his hand.
“What’s that?” Jason asked.
“It’s bad news.” Ustagov removed his face mask.
“Do you know what ate them?” Sasha asked.
“Those bodies weren’t eaten.”
“Then what happened to the flesh and internal organs?”
Ustagov handed the strip of flesh to Sasha, who examined it and passed it to Jason. The edges appeared as if they had been cut with a scalpel. “These pieces of flesh, like the bits of organs I found out there, were sliced away rather than chewed or torn off.”
“You mean their flesh and organs were surgically removed?” Jason asked.
“Yes, in a very crude manner.”
Jason scanned the decimation field. “So where did it all go? Did they take it away to eat later?”
Ustagov took a deep breath. “Do you remember back in Moscow when I showed you the Golem I had dissected?”
“Yes. Each organ and limb was made of several hundred human body parts…. Wait a minute. Are you suggesting…?”
Ustagov nodded. “These people were stripped clean and their parts used to create a new Golem.”
“How?”
“I don’t know the process.” The doctor raised his hand holding the strip of flesh. “This is exactly like the strips of flesh I found on the Golem from Moscow.”
“Where is it now?” Sasha scanned the area.
“Maybe guarding the portal or maybe off hunting for us. I don’t know.” Ustagov tossed the strip of flesh back onto the field. It barely hit the ground when a swarm of flies covered it. “This confirms one thing.”
“What’s that?” Jason asked.
“We’re near the portal.”
Chapter Fourteen
Leaving the decimation field behind them, Jason led the team south until dusk. The tension was palpable. In one sense, finding the field had been reassuring since it confirmed they were traveling in the right direction. However, the sight had unnerved them. They had all witnessed their fair share of bloodshed and carnage, although none had ever seen something so disturbing. Jason guessed there probably were more sites like this scattered around northern China. He hoped they did not run across them.
That night they settled down in a rusted warehouse that had not been used for years. Cobwebs and dust covered the interior, and it took over an hour to clean the area enough to be comfortable. Jason knew the busy work would keep his team’s mind off the decimation field. Dinner was quiet and sullen, with a lot of forced small talk. After everyone had eaten, and the first watch had joined the Purgatoriati on guard duty, Jason waited nearly an hour. He then left the werehounds with Sook-kyoung and made his way toward Jeanette’s watch post.
When Jeanette heard him approaching, she spun around, at first thinking he might be a demon. Her initial expression of surprise changed to one of concern. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. We need to talk.”
Jeanette became cold and angry and turned away. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Yes, there is.”
“Well, I’m on duty.”
“We need to talk right now
.” Jason moved in front of Jeanette. “You’ve been ignoring me for days.”
“That’s because you’ve been busy with your precious Sasha.”
“Knock it off. I need everyone concentrating on the task at hand and not acting like this is high school.”
The forcefulness of Jason’s outburst startled Jeanette. For a moment she stared at him, shocked that he spoke to her in that tone. Then she bristled. “Roger that, sir.”
Jason sighed, regretting how he had snapped. “Don’t be like that.”
“How do you want me to be?”
“I understand you’re jealous about Sasha. You have no reason to be.”
“Really? She’s been flirting with you ever since she came back from the dead, and you love every minute of it.”
“Sasha and I have known each other since the beginning of the apocalypse. She’s only a friend.”
Jeanette frowned and walked away, mumbling something under her breath.
“What was that?”
“I said, ‘sometimes I think we’re just friends.’”
“That’s not fair. I wanted us to be closer. You kept telling me you weren’t ready.”
“I’m ready now.” Jeanette spun around to face him. “I told you a week ago I wanted to make love to you before something happens to one of us, and you changed the subject. How can I not think you don’t really care?”
“You don’t understand.” Jason wasn’t sure he understood his own emotions. “I’ve had to reevaluate my priorities. I’ve already lost too many people I’ve cared for.”
“Like Sasha.” Jeanette spat the words.
“And my mother and Doc. If I make love to you and then lose you, I don’t know if I’d be able to carry on.”
“How will you feel if you never make love to me and I get killed? Will you regret it? Or will you shrug your shoulders and move on to…?” Jeanette inhaled, holding her breath for ten seconds before exhaling slowly. “I know you have strong feelings for me, but I don’t think you really love me.”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?” Jeanette pleaded.
Jason knew why he hesitated to consummate their relationship, and it had nothing to do with his lack of feelings toward Jeanette. He had wanted to be intimate with her since they arrived at Mont St. Michel. That changed after a hundred ravagers attacked the armored train near Lake Baikal and the nightmarish battle that ensued. It brought back memories of how he used to obsess about Sasha, and how he had become distracted during crisis situations worrying about her. That was before he became the team’s leader. He could no longer afford such an emotional luxury. The task they undertook was too important, and too many people relied on Jason for him to be constantly checking on Jeanette. How could he tell the woman he loved that she took second place to everyone else in the world?
Jeanette huffed. “If you can’t answer me, then this conversation is—”
The noise originated in the west and rapidly drew closer. It sounded like a freight train. Jason and Jeanette unslung their AK-47s and aimed into the dark, not knowing what monstrosity would emerge from the shadows. The nearby trees swayed for a moment, and the field bulged and rolled toward them in a wave. As it passed by, the ground jerked, like being in a moving vehicle that hit a speed bump, before continuing toward the warehouse. The walls shook and windows rattled, and from inside the structure came shouting and the frightened whinnying of horses. Lilith and Lucifer rushed outside and made their way to Jason, wanting to make certain of his safety. By the time those who had been in the warehouse emerged, the wave had moved on.
“What was that?” Vicky asked.
“Are we under attack?” Antoine chimed in.
“Calm down, mates.” Ian raised his hands to get everyone’s attention. “It was only a bloody earth tremor.”
“You mean an earthquake?” Slava asked.
“A small one. We get them all the time along the Pacific Rim.”
A sense of relief washed over the group.
Jason clapped his hands to get their attention. “Okay, back to guard duty or back to bed. We have a long night ahead of us.”
Half his team returned to the warehouse, although Jason knew it would take a while for those who were not on duty to fall asleep. Lucifer and Lilith stayed with him. When Jason went to finish his conversation, Jeanette had moved away and taken up her guard position several hundred feet from him. He knew enough to take the hint. Reaching down and scratching his pets behind the ears, Jason led the werehounds to the warehouse.
Chapter Fifteen
The next two days passed without incident, other than experiencing several more earth tremors. Jason had decided to avoid Changchun and circle around it to the west, again maneuvering the team between towns and villages to avoid hostile human contact. On the third day, they swung south, hoping to link back up to the G1. After lunch, as the others cleaned the area and prepared to move out, Jason and Ustagov consulted the map.
“Where are we now?”
Ustagov ran his finger across its surface and stopped. “We’re right here, approximately five miles from the G1 halfway between Changchun and Siping. It should be another week to Shenyang.”
“If the portal is near Shenyang.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic.” Ustagov folded the map and slipped it under his jacket. “Finding that field of the dead proves we’re heading in the r—”
“Excuse me.” Slava walked up and pointed with his good arm to the west. Jason and Ustagov looked in that direction. Two miles away, a tan-colored cloud rolled across the ground, spreading north and south as far as they could see. Several buildings in the distance, including a large one made of cement, disappeared as the cloud engulfed them.
“Do either of you have any idea what that is?” the Russian asked.
“It’s a dust storm,” said Ustagov.
“Are you sure it’s not a cover for something demonic, like in that Stephen King movie?”
“I’m sure.”
“I didn’t think we were near any deserts,” said Jason.
“We’re not.” Ustagov headed back to his horse. “It probably came from Mongolia or western China.”
Jason followed. “Is it dangerous?”
“If we get caught in it, it could be.” By now the doctor had reached the others, who bombarded him with questions. He raised his hands to silence them. “We’re going to be fine. The biggest danger is from suffocation. We have the gas masks Svetlana gave us, and we can wrap wet cloths around the horses’ noses. The storm is moving slowly. If we head southeast as fast as we can, we should be able to find a place to shelter before it reaches us.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Haneef.
“Get out your masks and prep the horses,” ordered Jason. “We move out in three minutes.”
The team had readied their horses, and half had climbed into their saddles, when they heard the familiar rumbling of an approaching earth tremor. Jason maneuvered his horse to face west. The bulging ground emerged from out of the dust storm and rushed towards them. He warned everyone to be ready for the bump as it rolled past and his team braced themselves. However, the wave never swept by. It slowed, stopping two hundred feet away. A moment later, the ground swelled, rising five feet. The bulge collapsed, leaving a crater twenty feet in circumference and ten feet deep. The area around it undulated and the rumbling increased, this time louder and faster. Before Jason had a chance to order his team to run, the crater burst open, showering them with earth and gravel.
A giant worm rose from the center, eight feet in diameter and towering thirty feet above them. The segmented body glistened blood red underneath the coating of dirt. The setae along its length bristled. Its thorax bent toward the ground. A giant mouth, seven feet in width, dominated the head. Four rows of fangs descended into it, each row two feet apart from the other, with fangs ranging in size from eighteen inches in front to six in back. Its prostomium, the tongue-like lobe that the worm used to sense its surroun
dings, extended. It stretched for twenty-five feet and swished through the air. After several seconds, the prostomium retracted.
Without warning, the thorax plunged to the ground toward Father Belsario. He fell to his right, dropping out of his saddle at the last moment. Instead, the worm’s mouth engulfed his horse. The animal thrashed about in terror and whinnied in agony as the first row of fangs sunk through its skin and into its muscles, clasping it tightly. The first row retracted, pulling the horse into the worm’s mouth where the second row surged forward, dug into the terrified animal, and drew it farther in. The horse thrashed about, trying to break free, causing more damage to itself. All four sets of fangs worked in tandem, biting and retracting until the horse had been dragged into the demon’s esophagus.
“Run!”
Jason yelled the command, although the warning was unnecessary. Everyone had already swung their horses around and galloped at full speed to the southeast. Gabriel paused long enough to help Father Belsario into the saddle behind him before racing off after the others. The worm’s prostomium detected the movement from Gabriel’s horse, and the head lunged, the fangs slamming into the dirt two feet behind the animal. Jason glanced back as the thorax disappeared back into the crater.
“Merde!”
The cry came from Antoine. A second worm had broken through the ground in front of the team. Sook-kyoung could not stop in time. Her horse ran into the demon, toppling over and throwing her from the saddle. She hit the ground with a heavy gasp, rolled twice, and lay motionless. The worm bent over and clutched the horse around its head, the four rows of fangs beginning the agonizing process of devouring its prey.
Gaston spurred his horse forward and maneuvered around the worm, racing toward Sook-kyoung. He stopped, dismounted, and ran toward her. “Can you hear me? Are you—”
A third worm broke through the ground directly under Gaston’s feet. He dropped into its mouth up to his abdomen before the first row of fangs closed around his waist. A gut-wrenching scream escaped from his lips. Despite the crippling wounds, he tried to climb out. Gaston’s fingers frantically dug at the worm’s slimy flanks, unable to get a firm grip. It would not have made a difference. The undulation of the fangs pulled him deeper inside. They sliced through his skin and punctured his organs, as though dozens of daggers plunged into his body at once, rupturing his stomach and shredding his intestines. By now he should have passed out from agony and loss of blood; fear and the desperate desire to survive kept him conscious. He panicked when he felt his feet dangling at the tip of the creature’s esophagus, knowing what would happen next. Gaston struggled to break free, but with decreasing vigor. The worm belched, and he smelled the gaseous stench of its stomach wafting up, which caused him to puke. He gagged on his own blood and vomitus. His clouded eyes pleaded for help he knew would never come. Finally, the first row of fangs closed around Gaston’s head and dragged him to his gastronomic death.
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