Devil's Island

by Mark Lukens

  But he couldn’t think about that. He led the way through the tunnel with one of the flashlights; he was at a full run now. His footsteps echoed back at him from the nearly impenetrable darkness he was running into, his quick breaths filling his ears.

  They made it halfway through the tunnel before the shaking started again. Kristen whimpered from behind Shane. The air felt stale and dusty, and there seemed to be a slight metallic taste on his tongue mixed in with almost a sweet, sugary taste—perhaps the toxic gasses that Harold had told them about.

  The thought of Harold made Shane think of Billy and the splash of blood they had seen earlier. He turned his head a little as he ran. “Where’s Billy? What happened to him?”

  “It got him,” was all Laura said from behind him.

  And that was explanation enough for Shane. He knew that they didn’t need to go and look for him. He was as gone as Harold and Nick were now.

  The rock walls around them rumbled again, a slow shaking that was building in intensity. Shane thought the rumbling sounded like the hunger pangs of a giant stomach.

  Miraculously the shaking stopped. But the tunnel was filling up with dust as small rocks and pebbles rained down on them. The flashlight beams barely penetrated the dusty black wall in front of them. But Shane continued on, tripping over a few larger rocks on the floor, but keeping his balance.

  A crack ran along the rock wall on the left side of them, the sound of splitting rock sounded like a thunderclap down here in this enclosed space.

  God, we’re not going to make it. We’re really going to die down here.

  Kristen cried out from behind Shane as they ran.

  “We’ll be okay!” Shane told her. “Just keep going! We’re going to make it out of here! I promise!”

  Shane’s false promises were even making himself feel a little better, lifting his spirits some, so hopefully they were working on Kristen.

  Another series of quakes shook the walls and floor. The ceiling above them seemed to be shifting. From far behind them down the tunnel there was a crashing of larger rocks that sounded like gunshots.

  Kristen and Laura screamed from behind Shane.

  More rocks rained down on them, the air was so dusty it was almost too thick to breathe.

  Just when Shane thought the walls were going to close in and collapse on them, the rumbling stopped and the rock around them was still again. They had all stopped walking for a moment, unable to keep their balance on the shaking floor.

  “You okay?” Shane called out into the thick dust. A rock had hit him on the top of his head so hard it had jarred the flashlight out of his hand. For a moment his claustrophobic world went black, and then he saw bright motes of white lights dancing in front of his eyes, until one of the lights grew brighter … it was the flashlight on the ground.

  “Shane!” Kristen and Laura’s voices came from somewhere in the darkness—from so far away at first. But now their voices were getting louder, clearer.

  He realized that he had been on the verge of passing out. Then the pain on the top of his head screamed at him. He touched his head and felt the wetness of blood there. “I’m okay,” he mumbled at Kristen and Laura, and then he picked his flashlight up. At least the lightbulb hadn’t broken. “Let’s keep going!”

  As they ran farther down the tunnel, Shane saw another massive crack in the rock floor beyond the group of rocks he stood in front of. The crack was big enough to stick his hand into if he wanted to (which he didn’t). He could see the floor opening up all the way when the next quake came, the entire floor giving way, all of them falling down into some dark abyss.

  The vision was enough incentive to get him going again. “Watch out for the crack in the floor!” he told Laura and Kristen. “Don’t get your foot caught in it.” He coughed into his hand and pushed on through. He couldn’t help feeling that this was their last chance to get out of here. Another strong quake like that and this tunnel probably wouldn’t hold up.

  Almost there. We have to be almost there.

  And then he saw it, the opening in the block wall. He could see the jagged edges of the stones where the wall had crumbled away.

  We’re almost there … almost … there …

  Shane kept his flashlight beam trained on the jagged opening as he ran faster, sprinting recklessly across the rocks that littered the tunnel floor.

  And then two terrible things happened at the same time. One: the tunnel began shaking again, knocking all three of them off-balance. Two: A shadow moved outside the opening—someone was out there in the basement.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

  Shane got out of the tunnel first. He staggered across the shaking floor, but he still tried to shine his flashlight around to spot what had been out here waiting for them. He didn’t see anything in the darkness

  Kristen was the next one out. Then Laura squeezed out just as the stone wall crumbled away even more, all of it collapsing to rubble.

  The basement was shaking badly, the concrete floor shifting. Cracks lined the block and stone walls of the basement, whole sections of block peeling away and crashing down to the floor. The floor joists above their heads were groaning and moving, wood popped. The whole house was going to collapse down on top of them.

  Shane raced forward into the pitch-black basement, skirting the piles and stacks of boxes and crates that had fallen over. Their flashlight beams barely knifed through the blackness.

  There was a noise off to their right. Then more noises to their left. Things were moving around in the dark and they sounded squishy. Shane imagined some kind of amphibious life that lived down in those black waters, blind from all the eons down there in the darkness, creatures that had pushed their way up from the bowls of the earth, watching them now with blind, filmy eyes … more manifestations from the being, pieces of itself coming to life.

  “Don’t look at them!” Shane yelled. “Just keep running!”

  Shane didn’t heed his own advice. He shined a light over at the pale beings and watched as they seemed to melt down onto the floor into heaps of flesh, spreading out along the floor and turning dark. He kept on moving. The shaking all around them had subsided a little now, but the quakes were getting more and more frequent. He pushed on past whatever was growing in the darkness, entering the newer section of the basement and then he saw the stairs that led up to the kitchen.

  As he led the way up the stairs the shaking started again and the door above slammed shut … but then it rocketed back open from the splintered frame that Shane had destroyed earlier with the crowbar. At least that door couldn’t close on them and trap them down here.

  • • • • •

  Laura saw that Kristen was right behind her as she ran up the stairs. She looked back as she ran and saw the tidal wave of black liquid that was rushing up the steps towards them. It looked like a river of dark blood. She thought of the Fountain of Youth far down below them in the caverns and she couldn’t help thinking that this was what the Fountain water truly looked like … it wasn’t the pristine healing waters people had thought it was throughout history … it was a thick, viscous fluid, a dark liquid that hid the horrors squirming around inside of it, the horrors that kept a person alive but not young and healthy, it kept them old and in pain. She knew this; she could feel it like the knowledge was drifting from the mass of black liquid up to her, like it was some kind of alien lifeform communicating telepathically with her. And who knew … maybe it was. Maybe it was some alien thing that had lived down here for hundreds of thousands of years until it was unearthed by humans centuries ago and then worshipped as a god.

  She turned back around. They were halfway up the basement steps now. But that wave of black liquid was gaining on them.

  • • • • •

  Shane bounded up the basement steps. He heard the wood creaking underneath his feet; he could feel the steps splintering. Kristen and Laura were right behind him. Beams and joists were crashing down in the basement below them. The floors above in
some areas were finally collapsing down into the basement. Maybe the second and third floors were already crashing down above them and they only had seconds to live. Shane had that terrible image in his mind of being trapped in the rubble with whatever lived here on this island, trapped under the rubble as that wave of black liquid poured down in between the cracks to get to his helpless body. He pushed those thoughts away again.

  Shane bolted out of the basement doorway into the kitchen. He turned and watched Laura and then Kristen rush out of the rectangle of darkness. Laura turned and slammed the door shut but it creaked back open. She turned and started running, her eyes wide with fear. “It’s coming after us!”

  They all ran through the kitchen as the walls seemed to sway back and forth all around them. The windows above the sink shattered, spraying hundred year old glass at them. Shane threw an arm up over his face as he ran, but he felt some of the sharp little diamonds of glass pelting his skin and they reminded him of Harold’s teeth thrown at them up on the third floor.

  Oh God, Harold … They couldn’t save him or Billy. Maybe Harold and Billy had helped Nick all along the way, maybe they were bad men, but he still hated the thought of all three of them trapped here in this rubble, their bodies lost forever.

  The three of them ran from the kitchen into the vast dining hall.

  “Watch out for the chandelier!” Shane shouted as he veered to the right, far away from the monstrous glass and metal thing hanging from the ceiling. Only a second later the chandelier broke loose and crashed down to the floor, pieces of glass shooting out in all directions. Shane couldn’t help feeling that the manor was trying to hurt them as they escaped it, trying to keep them here, trying to trap them in here forever.

  As they approached their base of operations, Kristen darted to the tables with the laptops on them.

  “What are you doing?” Shane yelled.

  “We need those!” She tried to grab at the laptops, pulling on the cords that were still hooked up to power strips on the floor. But now the manor was shaking so badly that Kristen fell over and lost her hold on the laptop.

  “Leave it!” Shane yelled as he helped her up. “We don’t have time!”

  A deafening crash from above them got Kristen moving. The whole dining area that they had just run across was caving in now from the weight above. It looked like something out of a disaster movie, destruction coming towards them in slow motion.

  Shane knew Kristen wanted the laptops, she wanted proof of the things they had seen here. She also wanted her uncle’s last moments caught on film, his last project salvaged … but they couldn’t let themselves get killed over it.

  The foyer was still so far away … the front doors still so far away after that.

  Shane thought of Nigel and Warren. They must’ve gotten the gates open because all of the buried dead had gotten through and raced down to the caverns below. He hoped that Warren hadn’t made good on his promise to come back down there to help them. No, they would’ve seen them along the way, though.

  Not if that thing got them like it had gotten Billy and Harold.

  Or maybe the zombies had torn them apart as soon as they got inside the gate.

  But if they had remained inside the circles of salt, that should’ve protected them. But he didn’t know for sure.

  He prayed to God that Nigel and Warren had stayed safe, and that they had remained outside and hadn’t come inside the manor to look for them.

  The three of them ran through the archway into the huge foyer. The ceiling two stories above them was crumbling, large chunks of plaster raining down on them. The floor felt spongy and untrustworthy … it was like running across giant lily pads that were going to sink down into the muck at any moment.

  The stack of drywall had fallen over sometime earlier, crushing everything beneath it. The front doors were still wide open. Both glass panels on each side of the front doors were shattered now and jagged pieces stuck up all around the frame.

  They were almost to the front door when Shane heard someone calling them.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

  “Kristen! Laura! Shane!”

  Shane heard Nigel calling them. And Warren. They were outside the front doors, maybe on the front porch. But at least they were safe. They were alive.

  As Shane, Kristen, and Laura ran through the foyer, the room collapsed behind them. They bolted out through the front doors and onto the wide porch.

  Nigel and Warren waited for them at the steps, both of them drenched from the rain.

  “Come on!” Shane yelled as he jumped down the steps to the path of pavers. He managed to grab Warren’s arm, turning him around in the process. “The manor’s collapsing!”

  Nigel and Warren didn’t need any more explanation than that. All five of them ran down the weedy pathway towards the gates.

  “Look!” Kristen shouted as they ran. “Look at the gates!”

  Shane had already seen it—the gates were closing slowly. He ran even faster and he was the first one through the closing gates. He heard the entire manor crashing behind them in the darkness, a roar of noise, but Shane concentrated only on the iron gate, on holding it open as much as he could. But he felt the gate closing, pushing him through the muck with it as he tried to hold on. It seemed like it was the being’s last stand, one last effort to keep them inside its prison, one last chance to hurt them.

  Laura and Kristen bolted through the narrowing opening next, but Nigel and Warren weren’t going to make it.

  Now that Shane was on the other side of the iron fence he saw what was happening to the manor. A flash of lightning revealed what was coming for them. The massive three story structure was toppling over towards them, the roof from three stories above them falling down, about to crush them.

  Warren didn’t turn around to see what was happening—he squeezed through the opening. And then Nigel tried to squeeze through.

  But Nigel was caught, the gate closing more, crushing him.

  Shane and Warren grabbed a hand and pulled as hard as they could. Nigel screamed and then he broke free in one explosive movement, staggering forward.

  “RUN!!” Shane yelled as he turned around and bolted. All of them jumped at the last moment, leaping forward like runners trying to dive at the finish line

  The manor crashed down behind them, the building pulverized, pieces exploding outwards. Luckily the iron gates and fence held most of the largest flying debris back like a net. Shane felt some pieces of wood, block, and roof tiles rain down onto him, but nothing big enough to cause much damage or break any bones or puncture skin.

  Shane lay there in the mud for a moment, flattened down on the ground. The rain pelted them, but it had slowed down a lot, only a drizzle now. Lightning flashed, but it was far out at sea.

  Shane lifted his head up, and then rolled over. He tested his limbs, moving each one, flexing muscles and wiggling digits. He was pretty sure he was okay, but he knew shock could mask pain at first. He felt the coating of plaster and dust running off of his skin and clothes from the rain.

  He sat up and stared at the massive heap of rubble beyond the iron fence that used to be the Thornhill Manor, a huge dust cloud hanging in the air and illuminated by the moon that was now peeking out from the retreating clouds of the storm. He was sure now that the building had tried to topple over onto them at that last moment.

  Shane looked at Kristen who sat right next to him now. She was moving slowly, but she seemed okay. He figured she was probably thinking about her uncle buried somewhere down in those caverns deep underneath that rubble. Was Nick still alive down there? Were the Thornhills and other zombies still alive down there? Would that black water keep them alive forever, trapped down there?

  Shane didn’t want to think about that. He turned and looked at Laura.

  She was sitting up.

  “You okay?” he asked her. “Anything broken or hurt?”

  She shook her head no.

  Shane looked past Laura at Nigel and Warren. �
�You two okay?”

  Warren sighed and nodded. He stared straight ahead. “The rain washed all the salt away.”

  At first Shane didn’t know what Warren was talking about. “The salt?”

  “Yeah,” Warren said, still not looking at Shane. “You told us to make a circle of salt to stand inside of.”

  Shane’s heart sank.

  “But the rain washed it all away.”

  They hadn’t been protected. Shane couldn’t tell if Warren was angry about it, blaming Shane for not foreseeing that happening, or if he was just stating a fact. But he didn’t respond to Warren—what could he say now? Besides, it seemed like Warren had more to say.

  “When the zombies rushed up to us,” Warren continued. “I thought we were dead.” He paused for a moment like he was reconsidering what he’d just said. “I thought I was going to die.”

  He stopped talking for a moment.

  Shane glanced at Nigel. He expected him to butt in by now, but the man stayed silent. Nigel seemed different now, still in shock, still trying to deal with the things he had seen.

  “I watched those zombie things rush up to me,” Warren said in a soft voice, but he could be heard easily because the rain had stopped. The storm was moving away as quickly as it had come. “At the last second Erin was there.” Warren wiped at his eyes. “My daughter … she was there. She … she saved me somehow, I know it.”

  Shane glanced at Nigel, waiting for an attack or a rebuttal from him. But Nigel said nothing. He didn’t agree nor deny … he just stayed quiet.

  “We should get down to the dock,” Shane said as he stood up.

  The rest of them got to their feet.

  “It’s going to be morning in a few hours,” Shane said. “The boat will be coming soon.”

  EPILOGUE

  Six months later

  Los Angeles—Nick Gorman’s offices

  Kristen entered the offices. She had taken over her uncle’s corner office, leaving it pretty much the same, all of the clutter still everywhere … Uncle Nick’s secret organization of chaos. She sat down behind her uncle’s desk. It had been a long day on the set and she should’ve been bone-weary, but instead, she was still full of energy. She barely slept four hours a night now … it was all the rest she seemed to need.