by David Wood
Knowing he had to move, and quickly, Kyle checked the miners nearest him to make sure none were looking his way, then duck-ran to the lit cavern opening. His stomach tightened with every step, and nausea drove bile into his throat in a burning trail of sickness, but he kept going. Within seconds he crossed through the opening. The light from the cavern was too bright for the goggles, so he shifted them up to his forehead and blinked to clear the spots that suddenly filled his eyes. After a moment his vision cleared, and he found himself in a short cave. It was taller than the mine tunnels, but much more narrow. It ran for about twenty feet from the opening before ending at a cliff edge. Maya stood barely a foot from the dropoff, a monstrous beast of a man at her side. Their backs were to him as they gazed down at whatever wretchedness sat in the cavern below.
Kyle tightened his grip on the shotgun and took a cautious step. As his eyes continued to adjust he saw the winged beast held Maya by the back of her neck. She hung angled out over the cavern with her arms hanging down and blood dripping from her fingers in a steady drop-drop-drop that matched the beating of his heart. The pumps were loud behind him, but as he neared the end of the tunnel he heard the beast speaking, the massive wings on his back twitching as he spoke.
“You should feel honored.” The beast’s voice rumbled like an avalanche. “You have the blood of the ancients in you, and now that blood will hasten their return. You will be the mother of a new dark age. Isn't that wonderful?”
Maya's head twitched and her arms shook for a moment, but beyond that Kyle didn't see her respond. The beast pulled her toward him and leaned in, his misshapen head so close he could have kissed her cheek. After a moment he chuckled with the sound of ice breaking and held her back over the abyss.
“You have fire in you, I'll give you that.”
Kyle crept forward, treading as lightly as he could. The beast shook Maya as if trying to shake loose the last drops of water from a bottle, his eyes locked on the cavern and the monster within it. When Kyle was within a few feet of them and still hadn't been discovered, he breathed a silent thanks to whatever was looking out for him.
That was when a voice behind him said, “You shouldn't have come back, boy.”
Several things happened in very short order.
Kyle turned and found his father standing in the opening. He looked worse than before, like a corpse left to bloat and wrinkle in a river, his flesh gray and shriveled. His eyes were black pits, yet somehow still disapproving. When he stepped into the cave he raised his clawed hands and growled low in his throat.
Maya yelped, catching Kyle's attention and dragging him back around. The beast, now alerted to his presence, glared down at him. He'd seemed so monstrous before in the construction company's parking lot, but he seemed even bigger now, a foot taller than Kyle and twice as massive. Maya looked like a toy in his hand as she hung over the cave floor, her blood turning the dirt on the ground to mud. The beast's eyes were wide empty pits, and his cracked lips pulled back in a sneer that turned Kyle's insides to water.
Moving without thinking, Kyle reached out with his left hand, grabbed Maya by her shirt, and pulled her toward him. The beast's hand didn't loosen from her neck, and she barely moved halfway between them before he yanked her back. His snarling lips opened, but whatever words he'd been about to utter were lost when Kyle lifted the shotgun in his right hand, jammed it in the beast's face, and pulled the trigger. The boom resounded in the tight space of the cave, but the buckshot that exploded from the barrel was far worse, and the beast's grip on Maya went slack as he flew backward into the cavern, brackish liquid spraying into the air in a rancid mist. Kyle lunged forward and grabbed her again before she could follow the beast's screams into the cavern's depths.
“No!” a voice cried out, reminding Kyle that he was far from alone.
Turning as quickly as he could with a half conscious woman in his arms, Kyle turned halfway around when clammy hands curled around his throat and tightened. Reacting on nothing but instinct he threw his free hand out and bashed what had once been his father across the head with the shotgun. His father staggered backward, his claws cutting Kyle's neck as his grip loosened and pulled away. Kyle hissed at the sudden burning pain at his throat.
“Fight all ya want, son.” Blood oozed like oil from a gash on his father’s gray cheek. “You’re all still gonna die.”
“Don't call me son,” Kyle replied, pumping the shotgun. A spent shell casing flew from the weapon and bounced off the cave wall.
His dad laughed and humor danced in the inky depths of his eyes. “Sorry to tell ya, son, but there ain't shit you can do about what's comin'. Not a goddam thing. You're useless, as always. Your momma should have aborted you like I told her to.”
Kyle winced. He hadn't thought his father capable of still hurting him, but the depths of the man's vileness were beyond measure. The twisted monstrosity standing before him was the full expression of the darkness that had been inside him, the truth revealed. Perhaps that's what the cavern's poisoned water actually did. It didn't sow evil so much as it exposed that which was already there. Looking into the twisted face of his father, gray skin and black blood and bottomless eyes, he knew whatever goodness the man once had was long gone.
“I hate you.” Kyle raised his shotgun and pulled Maya close.
His father snarled, but before he could do or say anything, a loud roar erupted from the cavern's depths, and the mountain shook like a fault line under it was finally giving way. His father screamed and clutched his head. Maya moaned and trembled against him. Kyle tried to keep one eye on her, one on his father, and one on the cavern behind him, but he couldn't watch all three at once. A second later the choice was made for him.
“Arrgh!” his father bellowed as he let go of his head and ran at Kyle.
For a moment all Kyle saw were claws and sharp teeth, but as he leveled the shotgun and aimed it, he couldn't help but see the father Gus Mason had been once upon a time. What rushed at him in the cave with hands stretched out for murder wasn't his father though, so when he pulled the trigger it was with little regret. What remained of his dad hit the cave wall, then slumped to the ground, his chest now a mess of ruptured organs and bone splinters. He didn't move again.
In his arm Maya began to shake, and a loud moan escaped her lips. Kyle looked down to find her head turned behind them and her eyes wide. His stomach sank as he turned, fearing what new terror came. A massive black hand reached over the cliff's edge, its claws digging furrows in the rock, and a second later another hand joined it. A shadow rose up, which turned into wings that spread and flapped in a savage motion. When the beast sprang up and landed on the cliff, it looked even more terrible than before with its face pitted in deep scars. Buckshot glittered in some of the wounds. The beast was hurt, but alive.
“I will eat your soul, boy.” The gigantic black creature ducked its shoulders and rumbled toward them. The darkness of its eyes hid none of its rage, and the fangs filling its mouth glistened in the light like knives. Each step sent a tremor through the floor.
Before Kyle’s terror could steal all his faculties he pumped the shotgun and sent another round of buckshot at the beast before tightening his grip on Maya and dragging her with him the opposite direction. If the cave had been bigger they wouldn't have stood a chance, but the beast was too large to get a full head of steam going. Slowed as he might have been, he was relentless, and he didn't let the buckshot impede him one bit. Kyle knew deep in his quivering gut that nothing would stop the beast from tearing him apart. Not distance, not time, and apparently not even a shotgun blast to the face.
He noticed a large chunk of shale on the roof. As he ran past it he raised his shotgun behind him and shot it. An avalanche of stone rumbled down, blocking off the cavern. He doubted it would stop the beast, but it would at least slow him down.
Once out of the cave and back into the mine, one glance was all it took to know they'd gone from the frying pan to the fire. Gray shapes loomed out of the d
arkness, their growls adding to the din of the pumps to create a cacophony of noise that shook Kyle's eardrums and made his insides quiver. Hands, claws, and gnashing teeth came at him from the dark in every direction, and as they came Maya grew heavier and heavier on his arm.
Knowing little else to do, Kyle looked for the nearest wall and carried Maya over to it. He lowered the goggles back over his eyes. Gray claws came at him from the right. The shotgun fired, filling the mine with a brief flash of light and a rolling roar. In the sudden bloom of light he saw a monster right behind the one he'd just shot, so he pumped the shotgun and fired again. Hands reached for him from the left, he fired. Growls and a foul stench came at him from directly ahead. He fired again, the strobe light effect of the shotgun and sound turning the mine into a hellish nightclub. His hands tired as they aimed, fired, and pumped, over and over again, reloading from his pockets after every sixth shot. Gunpowder filled the air and his ears rang.
When his pockets finally came up empty he turned the shotgun around and swung it like a bat. The hot metal barrel burned his hands, but he didn’t let go. His arms ached as he bashed in one gray skull after another. When the stock broke off he curled his left hand into a fist and prepared himself to fight hand to hand.
But there wasn't anything to hit.
For the first time in what felt like forever he found himself alone in the dark save for Maya, who sat on the ground.
“Maya,” he said as he stooped down next to her. “Maya, wake up!”
She stirred and looked up at him, her face pale and her eyes unfocused. “Wake up?” she asked, her lips barely moving and her voice nearly drowned out by the pumps. “Was I asleep? Was I dreaming?”
“I wish. Now come on, get up. We need to go.”
Maya groaned and pushed herself up, but as soon as she reached her knees she hissed and jerked away from him. A bloody scar tore across her wrists, the skin puckered and pulled back. Blood trickled from the wounds. She needed serious medical attention, but he didn't have an ambulance in his back pocket, so instead he took off his outer shirt, tore several long strips from it, and tied them clean side down tightly around her wounds. It wasn't much, but it was all he had, and it would stop the bleeding.
“Ow, that hurts,” she said in a childlike voice as she picked at the impromptu bandages.
Kyle smacked her hands away. “I know, but it's better than bleeding to death. Now we—”
Rocks exploded from the tunnel leading to the cavern, and a loud roar chased the tumbling stones. Kyle grabbed Maya and pulled her to her feet as, at long last, the beast emerged from the cave and looked around, his ruined face swiveling from side to side like an automated turret seeking a target. It only took a moment for it to find them.
With the beast between them and the way out, Kyle looked around for something – anything –he could do. Even with the night vision goggles he didn't trust that he could find their way out of the mine before the beast ran them down, so fleeing wasn't an option. His shotgun was broken and useless. After a quick glance around all he could see was the continuous miner, its front and rear lights pitifully small against the dark of the mine. Even unpowered it was a formidable object, weighing several tons easily, and if nothing else he could try and keep it between them while he thought of something. He pulled Maya close and ran with her to it just as the beast roared and took off after them.
The miner was even bigger up close, like someone had taken a bus and squashed it, then put a gigantic barrel covered in metal fangs larger than his fingers on the front. The tungsten-carbide teeth were coated in coal dust, dulling their shine but losing none of their wicked promise, and as Kyle and Maya hobbled their way between the miner's front end and the rock wall it sat parked in front of, he made sure to stay as far from those mountain eating choppers as he could, though there wasn't much room to work with.
Maya screamed, and Kyle turned to find the beast reaching the miner and following them around its front, powerful gray arms outstretched to grab her before they could get clear. Kyle yanked Maya close, and a second later they were on the other side of the miner.
Like an enraged bull, the beast roared and lunged toward them. He was too big to easily squeeze between the miner's drumhead and the wall, so metal teeth dug into his flesh, infuriating him even more. His massive black arms rose up, and then he slammed his fists on the drumhead. To Kyle's dreadful shock, the machine actually shook. The beast hit it again, and then again, all the while roaring loud enough to overwhelm the pumps, and the continuous miner trembled with each blow. But, the miner's treads didn't move, and the more the beast thrashed, the more it wedged itself in.
Seeing faint hope, Kyle pulled Maya around the far side of the miner, his eyes locked on the pipes that led out of mine and back to Maya's car. As they stepped past a gray body sprawled on the dirty floor with dark chunks of brain slowing sliding out of its shattered head, Maya stumbled, just avoiding falling on the body. Adrenaline coursing through his body, Kyle caught her with a lightning fast grab, then looked for what tripped her. The continuous miner's control panel lay on the ground behind her feet. Kyle's heart rate increased as his gaze flicked to the beast, its black skin bulging as it tried to muscle its way from the machine's vicious front end.
“Hold on.” Kyle stooped over. The controller was heavier than it looked, and there were a dizzying amount of buttons and switches on it, but after a few seconds he spotted a large red button with the word STARTER written above it on tape peeling at both ends. He didn't have a religious bone in his body, but he uttered a quick prayer, crossed his heart, and then put his finger against the button. “Here goes nothing.”
Heat rushed through Kyle's body when the miner rumbled to life and bright lights lit up to push the darkness back. The beast's roars, which were already loud enough to shake the mountain, somehow became even louder, and its thrashing reached a fever pitch. When the miner's treads jittered, Kyle didn't know if it was the transmission warming up, or if the beast was actually shifting the several ton hunk of metal. Either way, precious seconds were slipping away, so he looked down at the controls and searched for any button or toggle that might be useful. When his eyes hit on a switch labeled DRUM CONTROL across the top and the words ON and OFF etched next to it, he immediately flicked it to ON. The sounds that followed were the stuff of nightmares.
The miner's drumhead spun to life with a thick, mechanical chugging noise, and the metal prongs arrayed across it became a blur of motion. The beast's bellowing turned to shrieks. Suddenly pain lanced through Kyle’s skull, and Maya screamed. The monster lashed out, pressed against the miner to push it away. The pain in Kyle’s head increased. Chunks of dark flesh and sprays of blood jetted into the air as the beast thrashed. To Kyle's horror, though, the beast was almost free.
Kyle wasn't about to let his one chance at victory slip away, however. Two small joysticks sat on the edges of the controller – the one on the right labeled DRUM HEIGHT and the other labeled STEERING. Hoping the many hours he'd spent playing his Xbox hadn't been in vain, he pressed up on the left stick. The miner's treads kicked to life and rolled the machine forward.
The nightmare creature roared, sending fresh pain into Kyle’s head. He kept his left thumb pressed against the control stick. The drumhead rolled, its teeth now slick with blood, and bits of dark flesh flung into the air. The treads churned against the ground, pushing against the beast who somehow still fought. Sweat broke out on Kyle's forehead at the thought that not even the miner could stop the beast from killing them. But, after a few seconds, the miner moved forward an inch, then a foot, then a yard. The beast's howling turned into a sloshing gargle, and then Kyle could no longer see it over the spinning drumhead. A few heartbeats more and the miner hit the wall and dug into mountain rock. The air soon became thick with dust. A second later the pain in his head disappeared.
A dark hand reach up and touched Kyle's arm. He jerked in surprise and dropped the controller, but when Maya's pale face appeared next to him he
gulped and tried to slow his rampaging heart.
“I think it's dead,” she said over the sound of the miner. “We need to go.”
Kyle looked at her and then at the continuous miner as it sat in place and churned at the air. Nothing else moved. “Yeah. Let's go before shit goes from bad to worse.”
Taking her hand, he guided her toward the tunnel leading out. At every turn he expected gray hands to reach for his neck, and every puff of wind that touched his throat felt like the breath of some creature as it bore down on him, but after several minutes of scuttling they eventually made it out of the mine and into fresh air. Never in his life had he ever felt so thankful to be standing in the rain.
After taking a moment to enjoy the cool drops against his skin, Kyle took Maya's hand and started toward the parked car, but he barely took a step before he was stopped. Maya didn't move with him.
“Come on,” he said, “we gotta go. The end is nigh, remember?”
Maya nodded, but she didn't move her feet. “I remember. Better than anyone.”
“Then let's go.” He put as much urgency as he could in his words, but her feet stayed planted. He wanted to grab her and shake her, wanted to slap her and throw her over his shoulder, but the look in her eyes wasn't obstinacy. It was acceptance.
“That thing,” she said, “ in the cavern, it... My blood worked. It's about to wake up. I can feel it like snakes in my head. Whatever power you thought you felt before, it's nothing compared to what's coming. You won't make it to the dam before it's fully awake and tearing the mountain down. When that happens nothing else will matter. It'll be over for all of us. But...I think I can slow it down. If I stay here and concentrate, I think I can get into its mind and keep it suppressed long enough for you to do what you need to do.”
