"Okay people," Garret took charge. "It is time to go bury our dead, so to speak." Nobody had an objection, and all of the group stood up to make their way outdoors.
When they were outside, Oscar looked around them at a new world. "They weren't lying," he said, in an unsuccessful attempt at humor. He was right. It was barely brighter outside than it would have been at ten at night, but the continuous lightning provided an almost reliable alternative light source.
They found themselves in front of the pile of bodies, lying upon the wood beneath. At the top of the pile were the bodies of their two friends, Jonny and Wilber. Nobody knew quite what words of comfort they should say, before putting their friends to rest, so it fell to Garret to say a few words for them all.
"I didn't know Jonny or Wilber like the rest of you did," Garret began, "but they proved to be good friends, and I will miss them. The only thing that we can do to honor them is to try to win the fight that brought them to death. We have no choice in combating this thing because it will be the death of the rest of the world if we do not succeed.
We consign our friends to the flames, and we will avenge their deaths, or we will die in the attempt."
"Ian, Oscar, soak the pyre with the kerosene," Garret instructed. The two promptly removed the lids of the cans and began to slosh the kerosene over the bodies and wood in the pile. Tears streamed silently down Freya's cheeks as the two completed the task.
When they had finished, they stepped back, and Garret stepped forward with the Flame Thrower. He thumbed the device to lift and sprayed a steady stream of fire over the entire pyre. The kerosene caught fire, and the four of them were forced several steps back by the heat of the blaze.
By mutual but unspoken consent, they all retreated, as far away from the blaze as the backyard fence would allow, avoiding both the heat and the smell of roasting flesh. They felt compelled by the need to honor the dead, and to prevent an uncontrolled fire, to watch the burning, so they stood in silent contemplation for a short while.
Freya was the one who noticed them first, and her shocked exhalation drew the attention of the rest of them. On either side of the four stood the images of their two dead friends, Jonny on the left, and Wilber on the right.
The two apparitions stood watching the fire intently, silently holding a vigil of the process. When the four noticed them, they, in turn, turned to look at their living companions, but neither of them said a word, and no sound of any kind came from their presence.
A long moment it lasted, and then, in some impossible way, they vanished from in front of the living in the blink of an eye. It must indeed have been in a blink because none of them actually saw them go. In plain view, one second they were there, and the next second, they were gone.
For a long time, the four of them remained, watching the flames, until at last, the flames became embers, smoke, and ashes. They did not discuss the ghosts of the two. What would they say? It could wait for another time.
The four retreated into the living room. After briefly trying the television, and finding nothing but static, they decided that a short conversation might settle their nerves and their plans.
"It has been a long day, already, and it is not yet noon," Oscar admitted. "I feel like time is growing short. What should we do next?"
"I think that we should relax and take a short nap, and then get up and finish out the day in style," Garret decided. "We should probably check out the rest of the town, and figure out what options exist. We should see if there is any way out of town, and look for any source of food. We also need to see where and how many of the opposition still exists, and decide what to do about them."
"How many of the people from this town can still be left?" Oscar inquired. "I know that a lot of them left, and a lot of the ones that stayed have died, one way or another. There can't be that many left to be turned into those monsters."
"I do not know, but let us find out this evening," Garret agreed. "We will check out the town, and try to determine what resources are available this evening. How about we all get a nap in, and meet up here about four today to go for a ride?"
Everyone was agreeable with that idea. They all dispersed to their bedrooms to get what rest they could.
25 ready for war
Friday 19, 2019@ 4:00 PM
Garret descended the stairs, to find that the other three had preceded him to the couch. They were quietly talking, trying to pretend that the current situation was not tying their stomachs in knots with worry.
The coffee was gone. The tea was gone. Freya had managed to find a small quantity of lemon flavored powdered drink on one of the high back shelves of the house larder, so she had mixed a carafe of the pseudo-drink for the lot of them to enjoy.
The television was on, showing nothing but static. Ian had diligently searched all of the channels for programming, without any success at all. Garret turned the telephone back on and tried the NORAD number that he had previously used to call for the air strike. He tried it five times in a row, and the telephone rang without an answer for as long as he tried each time.
He was reasonably sure that the signal was not actually getting through to that facility because it should have gone to messaging after a few rings if the contact had been completed, even if the facility was no longer manned. His irritation rose as the telephone failed until he finally slammed the useless device down on the coffee table in disgust. The other three were almost startled onto their feet when he did this. In a rare moment of social concern, Garret apologized for scaring them.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to spook you three," Garret said. "I think we are on our own here. There is no television news and no telephone contact. Do you think that these things are getting jammed by conditions, or on purpose, or do you think that the people are all dead, gone, or being changed?"
"There is no way of telling," Oscar replied. "I think that we should not assume that things are happening that we are not sure of, because, either way, we still need to do the same things. Whatever happens, happens, and we will find out eventually if we live long enough."
"Well, time is a wasting, so let us saddle up and check out the town before dark," Garret decided. "Oscar, why don't you load up your car with some extra weapons and ammo, in case we find some opposition, and we can use the extra space in case we find some new supplies? I will take the Bobbsey twins here with me in my car."
"You got it, boss," Oscar agreed, and he promptly went to the utility closet where they had stored weapons and ammunition, and filled up a large gym bag with the ones he thought might come in handy. He shouldered the bag and went outside to put them in his car.
"Are you two ready to hit the road?" Garret asked Freya and Ian.
"Born ready," Freya said in her brave voice, with a fearful expression that belied her attempt to show a brave front.
"Good enough," Garret said. "If you weren't scared, you would have to be stupid."
Oscar came back through the door, with the gym bag still hanging precariously under his shoulder. "Well, I have good news, and I have bad news," he said. "Which do you want first?"
"Let's hear the good news," Ian contributed. "Lord knows that there is too much of the other type."
"Well, the good news is that the fog is gone," Oscar said. We can get a good view of our surroundings now with the use of searchlights and headlights."
"So what is the bad news?" Garret demanded to know.
"Well, it is dark out there already," Oscar let them know, "and we will not be taking a second car on our little trip. Someone demolished both Wilber's old jalopy and mine. Probably the attackers last night did it."
"Shit," Garret complained. "Well, I hope nobody has BO. If not, I guess my car will be enough. My car is still okay, right?
"I would assume so," Oscar replied. "At least, the garage door is still closed, so I assume that they never got to it."
"Okay, then," Garret decided. "Single file, kiddies, and follow me."
Everyone got to their feet, should
ered their burdens, and trudged after Garret toward the inside garage door. They were all secretly relieved when they got to the car and discovered that it was intact.
Throwing their extra weaponry into the trunk, they laid their personal weapons and equipment on the seats beside them, or at their feet, when they sat down in the vehicle. Freya used the garage door opener to open the door, and Garret drove out. After Freya closed the garage door, they sat off on their status check of the town.
After less than a minute, it struck them all how surreal this trip was going to be. The lightning flashed continuously, and the thunder growled like a thousand great predators on the hunt. The darkness was darker than any midnight that any of them remembered, and it was not yet five in the afternoon.
Garret drove carefully but at speed toward the south, planning to see just how far that way they could go without coming to an impassable barrier. It turned out to be not that far.
Just beyond the city limits, such as they were, they came to a slight rise that passed for a hill in this area. Once they reached the summit, they could see down into what used to be a wooded area, with a meandering creek, over which one could pass using a wooden but massive bridge.
The option no longer existed. The bridge was gone, and several partial buildings were lodged in the branches of trees that were nearly submerged in a swirling and swollen river of muddy water.
Obviously, going south was not a viable route for them. It was time to try going east for a little while. It was only a short time before they came to another thunderous torrent of muddy water, with no other bank to the water in sight.
"Well, I think that we have run out of East," Garret quipped. "It is time to see if North is any better. It will give us a chance to check out the High School, and the Feeding Ground." He steered the car north in compliance with his decision.
A short trip brought them to the site of the burned out High School. It only took a moment for the group to pronounce the school dead. A slight deviation in their course brought them into the vicinity of the Feeding Ground next.
Parking beside the field on the road, the group got out of the car and used two spotlights and the binoculars to examine the state of affairs in the immediate area. The field had a large and undoubtedly radioactive crater in the center of it, and none of the vine-like tendrils or the parasitized bodies were visible.
A similar inspection of the large mound or the small mountain that housed whatever was left of the juvenile Old One seemed equally dead. No one volunteered to check on the grounds or the mountain at closer range. Even if they were not scared of the radioactive count, nobody wanted to come face to face with anything that could have survived the strategic nuclear strikes to which the sites had been subjected. Speaking of radioactivity, it was time to go.
The expedition continued north until they encounter yet another raging flow of muddy water. After that, the natural thing to do was to turn to the west, so that is what they did.
Almost precisely halfway across the north side of the town stood the city hall building. Made up in a Deep South plantation style, the building appeared miraculously untouched. This might have been due to the dutiful attention of a small throng of the creatures that must have been some of, if not all, the last remaining citizens of the town.
They continued driving west until once more, they encountered an impassible flow of water. After a brief discussion about any remaining options, the group agreed to stop for the day, and return home straight away.
When they pulled up to the house, Freya retriggered the garage remote, and the team exited the now safely parked car. We filed into the living room for a last minute rehash of their discoveries.
"Okay, we know a few things now that we didn't know before," Oscar summarized. "We appear to be surrounded by flood waters. The fog is gone, at least for now, but the sun may be gone as well. The Old One and the Feeding Ground appear to be dead. Also, the only opposition that we know of would seem to be occupying City Hall. I always knew the Mayor was some kind of monster."
"Well, I suggest that we all take one last relaxed evening before we kill this one remaining hive of the enemy," Garret said. "I doubt that the enemy will attack us back here tonight since they should believe that they put the fear of God into us last night. Let us eat and drink whatever we have left, get a good night's sleep, and attack those assholes in the morning. What do you say?"
Nobody had any objections to that plan of action. The activity, disrupted sleep patterns, and the general ambiance of the world they currently found themselves occupying had rapidly depleted their energy, and they felt a desperate need to rest and get a little respite from the cares of the world.
26 The gate
He who is beyond knows the Gate.
He is the Gate.
He who is at the threshold is the key of the Gate.
He was at the beginning
He will be at the end
He is now, and at all places
Come now to us and bring blessed night
Saturday 20, 2019@ 10:00 AM
The four of them had been up for hours, every since the dream had shocked even the thought of sleep from their systems. The dream felt more real, more absolute, and all four of the companions had awoken, fearful that the throbs from their heartbeats were the harbinger of death, before the job they had vowed to complete could be done.
They had checked and triple-checked their plans and their equipment and weapons. They were just putting the finishing touches on cleaning their weapons, and they were running out of things to do to prepare for the final battle.
Everyone felt the same thing this morning. They were more scared than any of them had ever been, but the adrenaline that this fear evoked in them made them almost eager to rush into the midst of battle.
"Is everybody ready to get this over with?" Garret asked. "I doubt that we can find a football game on the TV afterward, but at least, we can relax when we are done, one way or another."
"I must be more worried than you are," Ian said. "Somehow, I do not believe that we are going to get any relaxing in, regardless of the way this comes out. Hopefully, we all will survive, and I would like some time with a certain someone without all the deprivation and the danger." He looked demonstratively at Freya.
"So let us get on the road," Garret commanded. "It is finally time to get it done."
Everyone stood up and shouldered the weapons. From the now familiar gym bag of ammunition, they each grabbed a couple of extra clips for their guns, and the three men all grabbed a handful of extra 12 gauge shells for the shotguns. Everyone filed silently out to the car and got in. Garret aimed the car at City Hall.
Moments later, they arrived. They parked in a little clearing across the road from the building, and they got out of the car to determine the situation. Things were going into the building, six of them while they watched. Maybe they were doing what such monsters do, but the group sensed that something inside the building was coming to a head. It was time to act.
A second or two to double-check their preparations, and they were as ready to attack as they ever would be. It was time to go do some damage.
They carefully made their way down to the entrance to the building, and when Garret tried the door, it was unlocked. A silent appraisal of their readiness passed between the four, and then they stepped inside the door.
There was a strange chant reverberating inside the hall, an undertone of odd harmonics that was both melodious and somehow disquieting, a tone below the chanted words by the things that had once been human. It was obviously a prayer to something or someone, an invocation to a god that they worshipped. For what seemed to be ages, but was probably less than a moment, the group listened enthralled to the words and the sounds, unnoticed by the throng of once human things.
Qui novit terius porta
Qui autem in porta
qui abiectus clavis est autem in porta!
Ipse enim est clavis ad portam!
Erat in principio
Et erit in fine
Et nunc, et in omnia loca
Agedum nobis nocte benedictionem!
"It's more Latin," Oscar whispered. "Something about the gate and how he is the gate, basically that he is the alpha and omega, and asking him to bring darkness."
Garret counted about forty of the enemy in the building. They ran the gauntlet from almost human to forms that were unrecognizable as ever being human. There were three in the center of the group, around which the rest of the opposition clustered. The mass of the things arranged around the familiar gateway from the universal dream, which had been remarkably reproduced here from brick and wood.
The three things in the center were larger than the others, and they had no normal limbs, or faces, or any other features that a sane man could call human. What once had been hair, now consisted of snake-like strands of venomous malice and tendrils of a slimy and decidedly diseased protrusion of gelatinous and dripping substances that waved aimlessly and randomly in the air above what would take a generous forbearance to call a head.
What might once have been facial hair, and body hair had metamorphosed into tentacles, unclean and promising of unspeakable and evil desecration. Below, grasping limbs of every sort, great pincers and stingers like unto those of scorpions abounded.
Parts of the greater beings had no form at all, but they bubbled, and flowed, having the appearance of melting flesh. Pools of almost liquid cytoplasm would form and unform around the more fleshly body parts of the greater beings.
The smaller things surrounded the three larger ones, and they showed every evidence of being able to read the directions of each other and of the Three in the middle. Their obvious role as bodyguards was demonstrated by the way they surrounded the larger beings and the deferential manner in which they acted.
Just as it seemed as if the four were invisible to the creatures, one of the guardians noticed them standing in the distance, and he or she notified the others with a shrill scream-like call. The attention of all of the others was immediately focused on the four intruders.
Beyond The Chaos Gate: Lovecraftian Horror Page 14
