In This Skin

by Simon Clark

  ***

  Robyn blinked as the scruffy guy in a combat jacket tumbled forward through the halo of mist. He recovered his balance. That's when she saw the submachine gun in his hand.

  Ellery breathed in sharply, shocked by the man's sudden appearance.

  The gun, the thuggish appearance, the angry light in his eye-none of it reassured Robyn either. Beside her Noel moved smoothly to his feet and aimed the gun.

  But the guy was fast. Recovering from the transition to this world of gray trees beneath a bone-white sky, he jerked the muzzle up, pointing it at the three of them.

  ”Throw it away, buddy,”the man warned. ”This pumps out ten rounds in the time it takes you to sneeze.”

  Noel hesitated.

  The guy continued, ”It won't just be you, your wife and kid'll get blasted, too.”

  Noel foresaw the outcome of a Shootout all too vividly. He dropped the gun onto the ground, where it fell with a soft thud.

  ”Kick it over here, buddy”

  Noel obeyed. The thug-guy picked up the revolver, shoved it into his belt. He nodded at Ellery.

  ”Eh-Eh-Ellery How ya doin'?”

  Robyn saw Ellery wince at the man's cruel mimicry of the stammer.

  ”Yo, Stutter Monkey. Aren't you going to introduce me to your amigos?”

  Ellery said, ”These are my friends, Robyn and Noel. This is their son.”

  ”Got a baby here in funland? What's his name?”

  ”He doesn't have a name yet.”Robyn spoke forcefully annoyed at being held at gunpoint by this no-mark jerk.

  ”The baby with no name,”the guy mused. ”Hey, Ellery. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends? You ignorant or something?”

  ”This is Logan,”Ellery said. ”We went to the same school. Logan made it his duty to bully me whenever he could.”

  ”Bully? Me? Shit! I was teaching you life lessons, bud.”Then something occurred to the man. ”Hey, Ellery? What happened to the stutter?”

  Ellery didn't answer. Instead: ”Let my friends go. They've got no argument with you.”

  ”Hey listen. I tell you who I do or don't have arguments with. Got that, Stutter Monkey?”

  Robyn noticed that the vastness of the silent forest distracted Logan from getting angry with Ellery-at least for the moment.

  He kept the gun leveled at them, but his head turned this way then the other, taking in the sight of all those dripping trees. He frowned.

  ”What happened, people?”he asked. ”How did we get here?”

  ”Through the Luxor. There's a route into this world.”Ellery nodded at the halo of mist hovering just above the leaf rug. ”That's the doorway”

  ”No, kidding. Yeah…”Logan grinned. This pleased him. ”It's cool. What a freakin' dance floor. You can dance from world to world!”The smile vanished as his eyes widened in surprise. ”Hey Ellery I know this place!” He shook his head, trying to work it out. ”I don't know why I know it, but I do. Like I've been here before, you know?”

  Robyn whispered, ”He's got the gene, too.”

  ”Gene? Hey! What the fuck gene?”

  ”You were born with a gene in your body that contains, among other attributes, an instinctive recognition of this place.”

  ”Attributes? Recognition? No shit.”He sounded pleased as he looked around, nodding. ”Yeah, I do know this place.”His face brightened even more when he made the mental link. ”So this is where the freaks crawl out of? The ones that me and my buddy here, Mr. Tommy Gun, dealt with.”He laughed. A laugh splashed with a hint or two of neurosis, Robyn thought.

  Noel spoke: ”Have you seen anything like this before?”

  ”After the shit I've pumped into my veins? Hell, yes. More far out than this… and more colors, too. Bright, bright colors. This veers toward gray too much, huh? Too monochrome for me.”He changed tack. ”Say, Ellery? Wasn't I just about to blow your fucking head off?”

  Ellery stood facing him, not breaking eye contact with the thug. He wasn't backing away. He wasn't going to beg for his life either.

  Logan pulled back the bolt of the machine gun. ”Hell, I won't even set it to auto fire. One bullet's more than enough for a weak-kneed girl-boy like you.”

  ”Logan. I knocked you down, remember?”

  Logan remembered, grimacing. ”Sure you did.”With that he strode forward and beat Ellery down with the butt of the gun. Blood oozed over Ellery's cheek as he lay on the ground. ”For that reason, Hann, I'm going to take my time with you. You're going to suffer. You follow?”

  The swish of feet on leaves drew Logan's attention. Robyn followed his line of sight. Emerging from the halo of pearl-white mist walked Benedict. Following him, Nathaniel. The giant man carried a figure in his arms.

  CHAPTER 38

  This is sweet! Logan had Ellery Hann's buddies at gunpoint. ”Welcome to funland… Come and stand here near Ellery. I want you bunched tight where I can keep an eye on you.”

  Logan gestured with the gun, shepherding them together by the fallen log. If need be, he wanted to kill the entire bunch with a single burst from the submachine gun. He noticed the big guy hang back, with his fists bunched. Big guy's planning something clever. ”You too, monster man. I'm watching you. I know you're figuring to jump me. But no dice, monster man. See this?”Logan jabbed the gun barrel toward his face.

  ”This is a gun, monster man. It go boom-boom. It blow big holes in your freaking face. Got that?”

  ”I know what a firearm is,”the big guy responded. ”And there's no need to speak pidgin English at me. I understand you perfectly”

  ”Pidgin what?”

  ”He means, there's no need to make fun of him.”Robyn hugged her baby close. ”We all understand what you're saying.”

  ”Hey, Ellery how's the face? Did I pop any teeth?”

  Ellery didn't reply. The cut on his cheek caused by the SMG butt had congealed. Shit, it didn't even look as bad as it did a few minutes ago.

  No bleeding. No bruising. Then Logan recalled seeing Ellery soon after his beatings. What should have been a bruised musheroo had healed uncannily fast. Maybe there was more about this oozing woodland than met the eye.

  Nodding, getting a buzz from his deductions, he stood back to examine his captives. ”Yo. What a pretty bunch you are. Shame I ain't got a camera; a photo of all you beauties would look good on my bedroom wall.”

  A barking laugh erupted from his mouth. ”Hey, who's the gorgeous babe?”

  ”Mariah Lee.”

  ”Wow, what a mouth! Bet she could kiss for gold with that one.”

  Logan peered at the woman (woman? Ha!) who now sat on the ground with her back to the fallen log. Her head… and, sheesh, what an overlarge uneven head… lolled as if she was only half-conscious. ”What's wrong with her?”

  ”She's been hurt.”

  ”How?”

  ”Shot.”

  ”Not by me?”

  ”No.”

  ”Who then?”

  ”Noel.”

  ”Who's Noel?”

  ”Me.”

  ”Eh, college boy, huh?”

  The one called Noel nodded.

  ”You shot her? Hey, way to go, man. I'm impressed.”

  ”I didn't realize that-”

  ”Got her nice and square in the chest.”

  Logan found it hard to tear his eyes from the woman's mouth. A bulbous red thing, it pulsated. What looked like a million lips formed concentric circles, like some weird, exotic blossom. Wow… how much would a news channel pay for an exclusive like that? Images of limousines and houses with pools came to mind. Not to mention an endless coke trail, for yours truly. The opportunities were as mesmerizing as the monster girl's big-BIG!-glassy eyes and multilipped mouth. Money.

  Fame. Respect. All those good things beckoned Logan. Then came a bonus; he noticed that instead of arms she had snake things coming out of her shoulders. Jesus H. Christ. And the big blue guy sprouted hands from his ankles where feet should be. Hell and damn… those two
alone are cash cows. All he need do was blast the regular people, then get monster man and monster girl out of here.

  Dreamily now, thinking of his rich future, Logan allowed his eyes to drift away from the group to rest on a line of bushes that bordered the edge of the clearing. A familiar face looked back at him through the twigs.

  ”Joe?”

  The face stared like it didn't recognize his old drug buddy ”Joe, what the hell are you doing here?”

  The face moved forward through the bushes, the body still obscured by a cluster of twigs.

  ”What's wrong, Joe?”

  Then Logan saw what was wrong. This wasn't Joe. Not exactly Joe, that is. It was one of those misshapen creatures, only it wore Joe's face.

  Whooping, shaking their arms above their heads, a bunch of God-ugly creatures burst through the bushes.

  Ellery's group reacted with shock. The blue-white guy picked up a forked branch and held it like a club. One of the other guys shouted a warning: ”Skinners!”

  ***

  Benedict had called out the warning, ”Skinners!” The creatures that he'd seen peel a guy alive came at a run. One wore their butchered victim's face as a mask. It had been in good enough shape to fool Logan, who thought it had been his friend. Now a dozen of the man-shaped monsters came bounding toward them, grunting, their eyes blazing with blood lust.

  Each wore parts of the man's anatomy like clothes. One wore the skin of their victim's torso like a vest. Others wore arm skin like tattered sleeves, or hand skin like fingerless gloves. Dried blood dappled their bodies.

  Benedict shouted, ”Keep together. Don't let them get hold of you!”

  Logan stared in amazement. ”Hot damn… what the hell are they?”

  ”I don't know,” Benedict replied. ”But they'll skin you alive if they get the chance.”

  ”That what happened to Joe?”

  Benedict nodded, then braced himself for the monstrous onslaught.

  Logan barked out that laugh again. To Benedict's ears, there was an insane quality to it. What's more, the man's face shone with excitement.

  ”Yeee-ha! Here comes your medicine… in nine-millimeter caplets!”

  Logan aimed, then pulled the trigger. The soft earth swallowed the reports, dwindling the sound to snaps. Cordite smoke billowed, misting the air blue. Logan had set the SMG to fire single shots. And, boy he knew how to use that firearm. Skinners dropped one by one. Logan blasted the one wearing Joe's face in the center of the head. It fell like a log, blood bursting from the back of its skull.

  ”There's too many of them!”Benedict warned.

  Nathaniel used the hefty branch to swipe one of the Skinners to the ground. It clawed at the branch as Nathaniel used the end of it to push the thing against the earth.

  Noel called to Logan, ”Give me back my gun.”

  ”No way, amigo.”

  ”There's too many!”

  ”Yahoo! I'm keepin' all the fun stuff to myself.”

  Logan fired two fast shots into the gut of a tall spindlelimbed creature that collapsed with its sticklike fingers clutching gory wounds.

  ”Logan-”

  ”Shut your mouth, college boy… damn.”

  The machine gun was out of ammo. Logan detached the clip and slung it casually away, pulled a fresh ammo clip from his pocket, fiddled around with the thing, trying to locate it into the bullet-feed aperture.

  One of the Skinners darted in, trying to snatch the baby. Noel and Benedict grabbed the monster and swung it away In horror Benedict thought: These creatures are strong. We can't fight them all with our bare hands.

  More pounded barefoot across the leaf mush toward them.

  ”Damn things,”Logan muttered, referring to the SMG. ”You'd think they'd design them so they were easy to reload.”

  ”Logan!”Noel bellowed. ”Give me back my gun!”

  Logan glanced up, assessing the situation as ten more Skinners raced toward them, while the blue-white giant kept another pinned to the earth by a branch. ”Okay okay. But it's a loaner, right? You give me the motherfucker back as soon as we're done.”

  ”All right!”

  Logan casually pulled the revolver from his belt and lobbed it underhand to Noel. With seconds to spare, Noel cocked the revolver, aimed. Again that oddly flattened crack as the cartridge detonated, discharging the bullet to drop a mule-faced creature in its tracks.

  ”I'm cookin' on gas again, people,”Logan sang out. Then he used the SMG on its single shot setting to pick off the Skinners as they charged.

  Benedict saw that together Logan and Noel made short work of their attackers. Those that weren't killed gave up the assault when they saw how their numbers had dwindled. With bellows of frustration, they scampered away into the undergrowth.

  Logan grinned. ”All done.”Then he noticed the creature Nathaniel held down with the point of the branch. It still clawed, trying to reach the big man. Logan stepped forward to fire point-blank at the Skinner's head. ”All done now,” he confirmed.

  Noel wiped his face, panting, the gun still gripped in his hand.

  ”Time to hand me the piece back, bro.”Logan thumbed a switch at the side of the SMG. ”It's only a loaner, remember?”

  Noel paused just one moment too long.

  ”Don't dick me around, college boy.”With that, Logan fired a short burst into Noel's feet. With a cry of pain, Noel fell. He writhed in the dirt, clutching an injured foot, as Logan picked up the gun. ”Warned you, didn't I, bro?”

  ***

  Ellery helped Benedict pull Noel to the log, until he sat with his back to it, alongside Mariah. Blood pumped from two savage wounds-one in Noel's shin, the other in the top of his foot. Pain twisted the man's face.

  ”There was no need for that,”Robyn shouted. Even though she held her newborn son to her chest she had enough anger boiling in her veins to attack the thug.

  ”Hey who's in charge here?”Logan sneered. ”I don't see any of you bozos with a weapon.”

  Ellery noticed Nathaniel step forward as if to make a run at the guy. ”Whoa, big boy. Get back in line.”

  Ellery watched Logan's face as he ordered them to stay still, to shut up, not to look at him… just like old times at school when Logan and his buddies would swagger around the halls shoving kids around, or bullying those that didn't obey. The hatred burned in Logan's face just the same. It had always been there, right from kindergarten, a malignant cancer of a hatred that had never gone into remission. It had gotten worse down the years, poisoning lives. There was a guy in school he'd bullied for month after month, burning his face with cigarettes, stealing his money, tripping him in the lunch hall. The guy had hanged himself when he was sixteen. The coroner called it suicide, but Ellery knew it was murder all right. Logan was the murderer, or as good as.

  He'd driven the kid to take his own life. And here he was again, in another world with different victims, but the routine was the same.

  Order them. Threaten them. Hurt them when they didn't comply fast enough. Noel had weakened from blood loss. He could barely raise his head. Even though Mariah had little strength left in her body, she reached out one of her delicately tapered limbs and stroked Noel's arm. With that gesture she did what she could to comfort him.

  All the time Logan ranted at Benedict, Robyn, Nathaniel and even Noel, sometimes reinforcing his offensive comments with a kick at Noel's injured foot. Ellery knew the game plan. Logan was working himself up into self-righteous anger. Then when anger broke the seal of self-restraint, he'd start killing.

  For years Logan had intimidated Ellery. The thug had repeated the act so often that he didn't even harangue Ellery now. He ignored him. In Logan's mind, Ellery was no longer a threat. There was no need to break Ellery's spirit because it was already smashed to pieces. For Logan, Ellery had gone beyond being one of his victims by that point. He'd become invisible. Just some minor detail to be dealt with in his own good time.

  As Logan told Benedict to kneel down on the ground with his
back to him and his hands in the air, Ellery stepped forward. No reaction from Logan. Then another step. Logan didn't notice. Another two steps forward. Logan was too busy aiming the submachine gun at the back of Benedict's head to bother about nobodies like Ellery Hann…

  Ellery pounced.

  ***

  Relying on body mass, Ellery charged the thug, knocking him sideward, though not down.

  ”Hann, you little shit… you're next. You're next!”Logan moved so he could bring the muzzle to point at Ellery but Ellery gripped the gun barrel, managing to push it away. Now they were so close they were eyeball to eyeball. Ellery could even smell the saliva in Logan's mouth.

  From the corner of his eye he saw Nathaniel and

  Benedict coming at him. Three on one would end this wrestling bout.

  When Logan couldn't break Ellery's grip on the gun, a glint of cunning sneaked into the thug's eye. Pushing Ellery back hard, Logan then let go of the gun so Ellery went tumbling backward to fall flat on his back with the gun still gripped tight in his hands.

  Ellery was fast to his feet.

  Leering, the man mocked him, ”Eh-Eh-Ellery You know, there aren't any bullets in that gur-gur-gun.”The leer broadened. ”I used the last ones on college boy. I was only jerking the other guy around… winding him up, you know?”

  Ellery glanced down at the gun in his hands. How did you tell if an SMG was out of ammo? Its shells were completely encased in the magazine clip.

  Logan used the distraction to pull Noel's handgun from his belt. He also dug deep into his combat jacket pocket and tugged out a second pistol.

  ”Whoa… got you under control again, haven't I?” He pointed one pistol at Ellery and the second at Robyn. Quickly, he glanced from Ellery then back to the bunch by the log again, checking that no one was moving.

  ”Better throw the machine gun down, Ellery; it's no good to a stutter monkey like you.”