by D P Wright
Doc touched the intricately carved symbols that covered the entrance, “Well, it takes some skill to engrave cadermite, not many cutting tools can even make a dent.” Doc bent down close to the metal door, “Look at the detail here.” He pointed to a symbol showing a cog and a hammer. “The cog of the Council but I don’t recognise the hammer.”
Kessler was already peering through the gap in the gate, planning their next move.
“Listen, Doc, Beck said that the Malebranche take all the lost down to the furnace at the centre of the town. If they are keeping them alive for whatever reason then all those people should be easy enough to find.”
“Sounds simple.” Doc did not sound convinced.
Kessler continued, “Remember, the Seekers can’t see us they can only smell us so no matter how close they get, stay calm, stay in the light, away from any shadows. We will do just fine and,” Kessler looked through the gate again, “and keep your hood down low, we haven’t encountered any of these Malebranche yet.”
“Ok, let’s get this over with.”
After a quick check of their disguises they passed through the gates and walked at a steady pace down the wide road that disappeared off into the distance. Peering from underneath his cowl, Kessler saw the cavern floor, its rock worn smooth by the feet of townsfolk. Either side of the road were dilapidated, lifeless, single-storey hovels made from the same waste metals as the perimeter wall. There was no evidence of any activity, the street was empty and only darkness existed through windows. Any sign of life, the general bustle of everyday living, was nowhere to be seen or heard. It was only until a gust of warm air brought an old Nutri Bar wrapper tumbling by Kessler’s feet that suggested anyone had ever lived in the town at all.
Doc, who had been lagging behind, quickened his pace to bring him alongside Kessler. “Maybe this will be easier than we had thought.” His words burst with nervous energy, “We may make it after all.” He pointed to a large building in the distance from which a huge column of wires and pipes towered above them connecting Acheron with the far distant roof of the cavern, “That must be where they process the plasma and where the furnace is.”
“Quiet! Keep your voice down.” Kessler barked a whisper, his head still bowed under his cowl, “Steady your breathing, Doc. Calm down.”
“What was that?” Doc’s confidence evaporated instantly as he turned to his left, his body shaking.
Kessler put an arm on the small of Doc’s back and pushed him forward. “Keep walking.” They marched at a fast pace, resisting the urge to run. The detective did not admit it, did not want to unhinge Doc even further, but he had heard it too. The rapid snarling and guttural growling were unmistakable. Seekers. He gave his friend a sideways glance and saw from his nervous fumbling and muttering that he was right on the edge of sanity. He closed his eyes and focused on walking, trying to ignore thoughts of the dead Vents decaying beyond the town walls or Beck’s shredded body, trying to ignore the fact that they were walking right into the centre of this nightmare. Time ticked by. The road seemed to go on forever. On and on they trod, further and further into Acheron, at all times the noises were with them, increasing with every step. Hiding under their disguises not wanting to make a sound for fear of detection, they faced their fears alone. Kessler thought back to Corporal Eisen sealed in that room with his dead men, weeks spent hiding from this horror. He closed his eyes again, trying to force the abhorrence from his mind.
The feral howls and screeches were now coming from all directions. Kessler looked up from under his hood and saw a group of four or five Seekers loitering in the street, their hunched robed figures stumbling around in random directions, their large maws chattering in clicks and clacks rapidly spewing out their foul bestial language. Claws could be seen appearing from long sleeved robes and waved around frantically in dark excitement.
“Kes, I can’t take it no more. They’re sure to discover us, how did I ever agree to such an idiotic plan. They’re everywhere.” Doc’s low whispers cracked and wavered in panic. He stumbled and fell into Kessler who quickly righted the terrified doctor with a rough push in the back.
“Easy Doc. Easy. Just ignore them.” Sweat streamed down Kessler’s neck and he could feel the pull of the chems leaving his body, energy sapping away underneath the stench and the thick material of his suit. Movement to their left made Doc whimper aloud and stumble back just as something brushed up against Kessler’s right arm. With his hand still on Doc’s back, he pulled him close. “Steady,” he whispered, still hiding his face beneath the large cowl of his robe. He made sure to keep his hand on his Luther, ready in case they ran out of options.
The numbers of Seekers grew rapidly. They seemed to appear, staggering almost aimlessly, trancelike, out of the shadows either side of the street. Kessler found it difficult to move amongst them as they shoved and pulled at his robes. He stumbled and realised that Doc was not beside him and cursed himself for letting go of him. He turned around, desperately looking in all directions, taking deep breaths and reminding himself again and again that these creatures could not see or smell him. He began to make his way back down the street searching for his lost friend. It was difficult to see anything through the bodies, the mob had grown and he was now having to push his way through them. A loud grunt to his left made Kessler stop in his tracks. A particularly large creature had turned and shoved it’s disgusting snout up against the detective’s face. Thick, dark saliva dripped from red gums and blackened fangs, its breath putrid and heavy with death. He gagged into his vent as the creature pressed tight up against him, it’s sweet, sickly smell overpowering his senses. A claw pulled at his robes and, for a moment, all was quiet as he stared into the dead, black eyes of the beast. The creature ceased its constant, random twitching and seemed to stare back at him. Beck had told them that these creatures could smell your soul, tell instantly how pure it was. He wondered what this foul beast would make of his.
Kessler found the energy to resume his search pushing past the Seeker until eventually he emerged from the throng to see Doc standing in the centre of the street. He had two of the creatures pawing and sniffing over him, their scaled faces snorting his robes. He pulled his hood down and stared straight at Kessler, a manic look in his eyes. He let out a loud moan as Kessler desperately waved at him to be quiet before he vomited in his helmet, splattering the inside of his visor. To Kessler’s horror, his hand went for his rifle which was still strapped to his back. The detective leapt towards him in blind panic but before he reached his friend, the doctor screamed and fired four rounds, in quick succession, into the two creatures. The force of the point blank blasts threw the Seekers backwards. Huge smoking holes now existed where their chests had been.
Kessler’s body landed heavily by Doc’s side and immediately he hooked an arm around his friend’s trembling form. Quickly drawing his Luther, he took frantic aim at the hordes around them. The group that Kessler had pushed past were the first to react to the commotion and were beginning to make their way towards them. Glancing up the street and back down towards the town gates, he saw more emerging from doorways, appearing from every shadow, all had their twitching snouts raised to the air trying to smell their way towards their prey. Kessler’s finger was pressed against the trigger, his aim moving between groups of them, not sure where to concentrate his fire. “We still have a chance, they still haven’t discovered us.”
“I am sorry Kes, I just could not stand it anymore,” Doc sobbed.
“It’s ok.” Kessler lied. They were surrounded. Hordes of the beasts closing in on them from all sides. A Seeker with huge bulbous warts that clung to a black and red face appeared over his shoulder. It snorted and sniffed, burying its snout into the small of his neck, rummaging around in the folds of his cloak as it tried to breach the pungent aroma protecting him from certain death.
Both lay rooted to the ground in terror. Kessler looked around him for an escape, time was running out. The red- and black-faced Seeker raised one of its huge
claws and ran it up Doc’s back, catching his cloak and lifting it off of him. Grabbing his friend, Kessler slowly backed away from the advancing creatures until both their backs pressed against the crumpled metal wall of one of the buildings which lined the side of the street.
They glanced at each other, a look of sheer panic in Doc’s bespectacled bruised face and one of grim acceptance on Kessler’s. “They’re onto us, Doc.” Kessler whispered as the electrical storm thundered around them, its blue light revealing even more of the creature’s revolting faces, claws, fangs, each one different, some with short, stunted claws, others with long barbed horns, some with grotesque snouts covered with sores, others with sleek scaled maws. All were horrifying.
Kessler desperately looked around him for a way out. The monsters were closing in and he had to do something fast. He breathed heavily into his vent, ‘Think, think.’ words rattled around his mind over and over again. They were surrounded and there were too many of them to blast their way out, it would not be long until they were quickly overpowered and shredded to pieces. Kessler looked at his cowering friend and then back to his Luther which shook in his outstretched hand.
A guttural snort to Kessler’s right alerted him to the red, bloated sores of another Seeker who appeared from the shadows. Its wart-infested maw opened as it extended a long black tongue. He curled up into a ball, waiting for the inevitable. A crowd formed around them as the horrors closed in on their scent, obscene fangs extending out of their jaws, huge twitching snouts catching glimpses of their prey, their chatter growing to a horrific crescendo. Kessler closed his eyes and waited for the end.
The crowd lunged forward all at once. The air was knocked out of Kessler’s lungs as their sheer weight of numbers crushed them against the wall. Kessler and Doc held each other waiting for the bite or gouge that would bring about their grisly end.
A door suddenly burst open, giving way to the mob’s desperate force. Doc and Kessler tumbled into the building. Kessler reacted quickly and threw his weight against the door, slamming it shut. Bodies pressed against it and he struggled to keep them out, his feet frantically trying to find grip on the smooth, worn stone floor, “Doc, help! Quickly or we’re finished.” His friend lay sprawled on the ground, “Snap out of it Doc, for the love of the light, pull yourself together!” He screamed. “I can’t hold them much longer!”
Doc lifted himself up, rubbing the top of his head and moaned, “What happened?”
“Grab that chair, quick!” Claws appeared, poking out the sides of the door as the drone of the creature’s howls entered the room, springing Doc into action. He grabbed the overturned chair and flung it against the door. Kessler braced it under the handle and frantically tried to get grip as the door opened and slammed shut in a flurry of claws and growls.
A piercing howl within the darkness of the room made Doc spin round from his frenzied attempts to hold the tide of Seekers at bay. One of the creatures had appeared in the room. With its snout twitching and snorting their scent, it flung itself, with a newfound agility and speed, towards the desperate pair. In the low light of the room, Doc frantically searched the floor for his rifle when finally he found Kessler’s Luther which had fallen by the detective’s feet. “Kill the damned thing!” Kessler shouted. Doc fumbled with the unfamiliar weapon .
Suddenly the Seeker was upon him. Doc screamed as Kessler shouted, “Power the cells, the switch to the left of the trigger!”
“I… I… ahh!” Doc screamed as the creature’s claw raked his leg but this was soon followed with the roar of searing hot plasma and the reassuring smell of burnt flesh. The doctor gasped for breath and held his bloody leg in agony.
Kessler finally secured the door and stumbled back into the dark room, collapsing against a table
“Light, you need light.” A muffled voice came from somewhere in the dark.
Doc screamed as the squeals and creaks of the Seeker’s evil chatter emerged from the far darkened corner of the room. “They keep coming, Kes!” Doc shouted as he found his rifle.
Kessler retched and broke into a spasm of coughing when again a voice appeared from the dark, “I told you. You need light.”
The storm cracked outside. Through a window, its blue light flashed into the room revealing the claws, spikes and fangs of Seekers. Kessler braced himself for another attack. “Here they come again!”
“No!” A panel moved in the floor and bright yellow light banished the darkness from the hovel, “Quick, inside! Come to the light before more appear!” A battered helmet with a bright shining torch on a small round head with a thick dirty grey beard appeared from the floor. “What’re you waiting for, hurry, sirs!”
Both Kessler and Doc lifted their exhausted bodies and lurched forward, falling down the hole into a tangled heap. The panel was quickly pulled over, followed by a sharp hiss of air as it was sealed tight. Kessler closed his eyes and curled up as exhaustion overpowered him.
TECH OPEK
Kessler eventually opened his eyes to see a small face peering down at him, the light on his helmet blinding him. He shouted, “Get that damn torch out of my eyes,” and pushed him away.
“Quiet, they’re right above us,” his high-pitched voice squeaked as he whispered, raising a finger to his mouth, urging both Doc and Kessler to be quiet. He turned to Doc, the deep wrinkles on his brow furrowed in concern, “He’s a user. Has he taken it? Is he chasing the light?”
Doc, still shaking, rubbed his eyes and tried to focus, “Chasing the light? I don’t understand, I…”
“Lux? Does he use it?” He stepped back and picked up a large piston wrench that was nearly the same size as him.
“No, I don’t take it.” Kessler coughed and his chest wheezed and rattled as he struggled for breath.
Immediately the small man’s expression softened. He took off his helmet, patted his grubby brow with a piece of cloth and smiled back gesturing them forward, “Then you’re welcome here. Quickly, and quietly, follow me.”
With an audible heave he lifted the huge wrench onto his shoulders and scampered through what appeared to be a long tunnel. Kessler, on hands and knees, followed, stopping every so often to wait for Doc who struggled to move in the confined space, his injured leg causing him much discomfort. The passageway itself was a small tunnel packed with piping and wiring lit by hundreds of chem lamps that flickered a bright yellow light and filled the space with smoke. After crawling for some time, the compact space opened up into a large area which had many more passageways leading off of it. Two make-shift beds had been constructed from crates and rubber tubing. Boxes of food, ranging from Nutri Bars to vaced proteins, had been stacked up against a far wall. A young boy of even smaller stature than the man who rescued them sat on the floor in a cloud of smoke, a magma stick in one hand and a piece of circuit board in the other.
“What is this place?” Kessler still rubbed his eyes as they got used to the fumes from all the lamps, “Where are we?”
The small man walked into the centre of the room, turned to look at both Doc and Kessler and spoke with a rapid excitement, “Welcome to my home, well, what is now my home. Please, take off your suits, I’m sure you are tired and I know they can be very cumbersome. I assure you it’s perfectly safe. These tunnels are still pressurised, the atmosphere controls still operational, thanks to my son and I.” Doc and Kessler stared back at him in silence as the reality of their escape from the Seekers began to sink in. “I have to admit, with those cloaks and the smell, ugh,” he pinched his nose to emphasise his point, “you sure do stink of them, I didn’t know what to make of you two at first but when I heard the shrill Hightown squeal from your good self,” he gestured towards Doc who had now sat down on the floor and began to attend to his wound, “disguises I guess.” Silence filled the room as the three stared at each other before he continued, “Please forgive me, where are my manners! My name is Primary Engineer Opek and this is my son, Apprentice Third Class Bendle.” Standing at around two feet in height, Opek smiled
back at them. He wore extremely dirty red overalls and a short-sleeved shirt that at one time had probably been close to white. Long tufts of grey hair covered his wrinkled face, some spouting out of his large ears. His son had black hair with a young, child-like face. He wore the same uniform as his father, although his overalls were a couple of sizes too big for him. Big blue eyes stared back at them from under a dented hard hat.
Opek played nervously with a loose button on his shirt before continuing but this time slowed and steadied his voice, “Apologies, it has been so long since we have had company and the excitement just got to me. We have been so very lonely. Are you hungry? You look hurt, I have medical supplies and can help tend your wounds although, I admit, I’m no doctor.”
Kessler looked down at his robes. In the bright light of the room the full extent of their horror could be easily seen. He pulled them over his head and threw the gut- and blood-encrusted cloth away. He looked at Doc taking his heat suit off. His small bruised and bloodied, skinny frame was lost in the thick heavy material. His manicured hands and immaculately-groomed appearance long gone. They truly had become monsters, he half sighed and half laughed to himself.
Opek stared at Kessler, examining his appearance and spoke as if reading his thoughts, “These difficult times have changed us all.” He glanced at his son before clearing his throat and continuing, “But they are just clothes, they can be discarded and new ones found.” He pinched his nose with a clip taken from a shirt pocket, picked up the robes and pushed them down a chute, “An incinerator. Well, it used to be one before everything happened. At least that awful smell won’t be bothering us anymore, eh?” He continued to smile. “You can take off your respirators down here, these tunnels are filled with Ox.
