by A. R. Daun
Jaq slid her bow into its sling and bounded into the clearing. Her muscular legs carried her in long loping strides into the midst of the shocked children, who had been staring mutely at the still-twitching brunette. She scooped up one of the smaller toddlers with an arm, holding him close to her side as she broke into a run away from the clearing and deeper into the heart of the town.
She scanned her surroundings as she ran. Oni had notoriously bad senses, at least when compared to some of the other Risen, and Jaq thought she could lose them in the warren of abandoned and demolished tenements that littered the slowly decaying metropolis.
She felt a flair of pain on her arm and looked down. The toddler had managed to clump his mouth onto the flesh near her wrist, although his underdeveloped teeth could not break the skin. His one cyclopean eye goggled up at her, and a high pitched keening sound issued from somewhere inside him. Jaq gripped his hair and tugged hard, grimacing as his teeth pinched a fold of her flesh before slipping off.
Behind her she heard a roar of anger as one of the adult females reanimated. She glanced back and knew that only one of them would tear after her, while the other would remain to protect the children. Jaq thought she had an even chance of getting far enough away from the clearing that the one lone hunter would not be able to sniff her out.
Another rumbling bellow split the air, but this time from somewhere ahead of her. Jaq skidded to a stop, her chest heaving from exertion. A massive figure lumbered out from one of the side streets, its bullet head almost touching the lower branches of a gigantic laurel oak whose roots had consumed one sidewalk.
Jaq gaped at the apparition. It was a bull oni, an armored behemoth that walked on two pillar-like legs but was probably as immune to her bow as the larger highway quadrupeds, and he was obviously not pleased to see her making off with one of his children. He raised arms that bulged with ropy muscle and uttered a low subsonic rumble that seemed to make the very ground beneath her vibrate, then charged.
Jaq glanced to either side, frantically searching for shelter. To her right was a one story store with faded green stripes and diamond emblems up top, but it had gaping openings where it was once fronted by wall to wall glass windows. She instead sidestepped into a two story red brick building whose lower level entrances were shielded by vaulted arches. She decided if nothing else, they might at least slow the bull down.
The interior of the building was dark and damp. Jaq grunted as the oni cub squirmed in her arm. She could barely make out the outlines of molding furniture scattered in the darkness. Behind her she heard a sudden hollow crash as the bull smashed into the brick arches. It looked like the structure would hold for awhile longer against the male oni, but the female would be here soon, and she would not have any problems entering and hunting Jaq in the building.
Jaq slowly tiptoed deeper into the darkness, puffs of dust swirling around her ankles. She found a door near the back that was half rotted and falling off its hinges. Behind it stone steps led up to the higher floor. She took them two steps at a time, not even pausing when the entire place rang with the force of another hit as the bull continued its assault on the premises.
She paused as she came to the second floor landing. The metal door at this level was intact and tightly shut. Jaq had only celebrated her 18th birthday a few months back, but she already knew it never paid to barge into an enclosed space with no knowledge of what lay behind the closed door. Much older hunters than her had done so and ended up prey to some lurking horror at the other end.
She placed one ear carefully against the cold metal. The cub squirmed in her arm, but thankfully did not utter any sounds at all. He smelled slightly rank, but that wouldn't stop Jaq. Her stomach rumbled again and she licked her lips. It was now or never.
She opened the door slightly and peered in. The windows were boarded up and it was dark in the large room. A faint musty odor wafted to her as she sniffed carefully. Tiny pinpricks of light pierced the gloom from hairline cracks in the walls, and she could just make out the shadows of overturned chairs and mouldering desks, though they were mostly hidden behind rows of cubicles.
She eased into the room, closing the door behind her. She hugged the wall and slowly inched her way towards the far side, where a row of closed office doors stood like mute sentinels. She suddenly realized the dull thumping sounds from below had stopped, and she thought this was an ominous sign.
Jaq froze when she heard skittering noises coming from the center of the room. At almost the same moment she heard a loud crash from below and the blood curdling scream of one of the adult females. She bolted for the rear offices, jumping up and lunging for the nearest door when something very fast and low to the ground buzzed straight towards her from the interior of a cubicle.
She stumbled into one room and locked the door shut, pressing her back against it and wincing as several objects smashed into the other side. The door was old and the frame groaned but held fast. She could hear the female oni bounding up the stairs in a headlong rush, and she looked madly around her for an escape route.
She was in an office with a huge mahogany desk that had gone to seed and what used to be a plush brown leather office chair. Behind was a large picture window that looked down on the empty streets below. She sidled over to the window and glanced down. The drop was too high to safely jump, and she could see no ledges to cling onto. She also didn't see the bull, though this didn't surprise her as they had rather short attention spans.
She put the cub down and unslung her bow. She could hear the outer door to the second floor give way as the female walker slammed into it. A chorus of loud chittering noises suddenly emanated from behind the locked office door, and suddenly the female oni was not roaring but howling in pain as something attacked her.
The cub had started to crawl towards the door, perhaps instinctively drawn to the sounds of his kin. Jaq used one foot to pin the youngster to the floor, grimacing as she felt her foot sink partly into the plump rolls of flesh that covered his upper back. He yelped in surprise then quieted down as the weight her foot drove the air from his lungs.
Jaq pulled an arrow from her quiver and nocked it. She drew her bow string fully and aimed at the office door. She would get one slim chance to stop the oni before it set upon her. If she missed or failed to stop its charge she was as good as dead.
“Lady Ammara,” Jaq whispered to her deity, her breath coming in short gasps.
A minute passed, then two, and still the sounds of struggle outside continued, interrupted only by occasional plaintive whimpering sounds that Jaq realized must have been coming from the female. She kept the arrow nocked but quickly moved to the door, listening for some time, then she made a decision.
She threw the door wide open. Light from the open office window flooded into the larger room. The sudden illumination caused the attackers to scatter. Jaq had a vague impression of fist-sized multi-legged black beetles scurrying like roaches back into the darkness, and in their wake left behind the muscular brunette.
The oni lay face down without moving, her body a splayed jumble of crooked limbs and torn flesh. Both of her legs were gone, the left sheared off cleanly at the knee, while the other leg had been whittled away to bits of attached flesh and the underlying bone. Dark liquid bubbled from beneath her and spread in a widening pool.
Jaq drew her bow. She would pin the female oni down with a heavy grain arrow and let the scuttling things continue their feast in the dark. This would give her enough time to get far enough away to enjoy her own meal. A nice symmetrical touch. The thought gave her a grim satisfaction, and she wondered before transcending to that cold state before release how long it would take the female to reanimate after having her flesh completely stripped, or worse. She breathed deeply in and out, and without any volition or conscious thought her elbows moved back in preparation for the shot.
The brunette lifted her head and stared at her. The oni's face was a wet bloody landscape. Both eyes were gone, and in their place were empty so
ckets with vitreous humor spilling down the flayed cheeks, like swollen rivers coursing through a barren field. Her mouth was wide open, a hole with a lump of flesh that was the remnants of a tongue. She screamed, a high pitched wailing sound that reverberated through the entire building but barely disturbed Jaq's singular concentration.
“Mamaaaaa!”
The sudden shrill cry from behind her echoed in harmonious counterpoint with the shrieks of the brunette oni, and Jaq froze as a tiny figure crawled on all fours past her and waddled towards the fallen walker.
“Mamaaa! Mamaaa! Mammaa!” The cub kept repeating, before burying himself in the waiting arms of the adult.
Jaq's finger triggered the release, but at the last moment she jerked up slightly and the arrow sailed into the darkness, burying itself into the opposite wall with a loud thud.
She stared incredulously at the female and her child. The brunette had pulled herself up slightly and was balancing on her elbows, hugging the cub tightly against her bosom, as grotesque tears flowed freely from the sides of her empty eye sockets. An atonal keening issued from her ruined mouth, but this seemed to calm the child, who settled deeper into her embrace, his one eye now and again darting back to glance fearfully at Jaq.
Jaq had never heard of oni that talked. They were mere animals who took the form of People, but lacked the spark of divinity conferred by Lady Ammara and the others of the Trinity. They traveled in wild packs and were hunted for meat, their sundered flesh blessed by one of the Trinity to drive away the tiny susuwatari spirits that reanimated them, then cured in salt brine and smoked.
What to make of an oni cub that somehow had acquired the ability to form words and ascribe meaning to the sounds he made? The gift of tongue was thought to have been denied to the various Risen, but perhaps things were different the farther away one traveled from the settlements. She still had a long way to go, all the way up into the barren icy wastelands of the far north, and perhaps this was just one of the many things she would discover as her journey continued.
She flinched as one of the beetle-like creatures braved the light and scampered onto the female oni's arm. It snipped off a long strip of flesh with its razor sharp mandibles, but before it could retreat back into the dark, the oni smashed it flat with an open palm, then greedily crammed the squashed remains into her waiting mouth. She stared at Jaq and chewed noisily as flecks of chitin and severed beetle legs fell to the floor like black rain.
Jaq made a decision and sighed. She would not be eating well today after all. The mother and her cub would be safe so long as the light held, and Jaq thought they would be discovered and helped by the rest of the pack before the coming of night. It was time to go.
She slung her bow and eyed the exit door on the other side of floor. The light from the picture frame window stretched all the way to that side, but just barely, and she could just make out the shaft of her arrow jutting slightly to the left of the door.
She steeled herself, gave a quick prayer to the Trinity, then started her run for the exit.
CHAPTER 32
Day -250 A.R.
20 miles west of Bandera, Texas
In many stories of Philippine mythology, the banyan is said to be home to a variety of spirits (diwata and engkanto) and demon-like creatures.
He had followed them discreetly from a distance. The bitch Haley had gone with the viejo verde out into the hills, and they were probably looking for some place to make out in private, away from the prying eyes of the staff and customers.
He burned inside with rage and jealousy, a white hot emotion that he allowed himself to slip into, wallowing in the waves of despair and anger that alternately consumed him. He could not imagine what Haley saw in the old man, but he had seen the glint in her pale blue eyes when she asked him about the gringo earlier that day. The guy was probably in his late forties, maybe fifties, and the thought that she had felt an attraction towards him made a wave of disgust course through Juan.
He felt protective about her, and not a little driven with lust at the thought of her lithe body. From the moment he saw her, Juan was immediately attracted to the petite blond. It was not just her looks though, but the tantalizing mix of naivete and sophistication that she displayed from the moment she had come to the ranch. He was a naturally charming man, and they soon had developed an amiable friendship, with Haley confiding all the anxieties and fears she felt about the new job.
Juan had visions about them becoming more than friends though, and recently it seemed his advances towards her had made her wary. He had sensed Haley distancing herself from him, and as the days passed their daily talks after work had deteriorated into semi-weekly events, and now he only saw her when they both had some work duty together.
And now this.
Juan lowered his binoculars and squinted up at the bluff they had just visited. He was puzzled, and definitely curious as to what they had been doing up there for the last half hour. Images of Haley and the old man rutting like animals kept crossing his mind, filling it with vivid images that fanned the flames of his jealousy and hatred. He waited another half hour after he had seen them trotting off back to the ranch, then carefully made his way up the narrow path to the top. He could see the Medina river winding its lazy way among homesteads and farms off in the distance, and he knew that if his eyes were a bit sharper he could probably pick out the ranch itself, nestled amongst the live oaks that surrounded the large property.
But at that moment his eyes were busy staring at something else. Near the very top, a lone plant grew conspicuously from the bare earth, its small leaves and branches forming a wide canopy that made it look like for all the world like a miniaturized tree.
He knelt down, thoughts about Haley and the old man temporarily forgotten. He could see tiny dots moving in long lines along the long axis of the plant, and he reached out curiously and placed one finger next to a cluster of them.
All movement on the plant's surface stopped immediately. It was as if a film had been frozen in mid-frame, and Juan had a moment to wonder about this before the stillness was broken. The tiny dots on the surface suddenly swarmed onto his finger and up his right arm, moving so fast and in such huge numbers that within a few seconds his entire forearm seemed encased in a brown heaving mass.
He screamed in fear and surprise and fell backwards. He fully expected the things to continue up his arms and onto the rest of his body, engulfing him in a tidal wave that would pour into all his orifices and suffocate and blind him. But the squirming mass stopped its advance near his elbow, and in fact seemed to be rapidly diminishing in size.
Juan stared, mesmerized. It was like watching a magic trick, and he had the absurd notion that they were somehow dissipating like snowflakes heated by the sun, until he finally realized what was really happening.
They were slipping through his skin and flooding into him. He could feel their entry as a spreading coldness that first took hold of his right forearm, then extended to the whole arm.
Juan yowled, more in desperation than in pain. He scrambled back to his feet, holding his right arm extended, as if trying to keep it as far away from his center mass as possible, but there was no stopping the icy numbness that gripped his chest and radiated outwards from there.
He fell to his knees one final time. His head was bent forward as if in prayer, his arms held slack at his sides. He swayed, then tumbled slowly forwards, his forehead making an ominous thud as it connected with the hard ground. But he felt nothing at all, and as the icy blackness closed around him, Juan's final regret was that he would never be able to get the bitch for hurting him so badly.
Silence.
The hours passed, and as the sun traversed the clear blue sky, wind blew dust onto the fallen body. Everything was still for a long while, as if the world had taken a single long drawn out breath and was waiting for the sudden exhalation.
A ripple passed through the corpse, then faint tremors in its limbs grew to full body shudders. Pustules burst from the sal
low skin, initially only a dozen or so, but then erupting in hundreds then thousands of boils. The body appeared to be liquifying, its finer features melting and flowing into the surrounding tissues. Only the material in its clothing was sloughed off from the undifferentiated mass that had once been the assistant cook at the Western Oaks Guest Ranch.
Night came, but in the moonlight the changes to the body continued. Tiny tendrils emerged from it and tunneled down into the hard packed earth, until the entire form seemed to be tethered by hundreds of dark-red guy ropes. Then the tendrils became taut and the body was slowly pulled deeper into the ground, and when at last it was below the level of the surface, a faint whirring sound rose and a faint patina of dirt drifted onto the buried corpse, finally covering it up completely from sight.
Silence again, as the night gave way to the first rays of the morning sun. In the distance the sound of hoof beats heralded the arrival of two people on horseback as they rode up to the edge of the bluff and got off, an older man in faded jeans and a young woman.
They stood close to what once had been the strange plant, but which now was a withered and brown thing, all its tiny leaves crinkled and drooping, and no sign at all of the swarming infestation that had once been occupying its surfaces. The woman had brought glass vials filled with a clear liquid, but now she held then despondently by her sides. Finally, she teased a few crumpled leaves from the plant and dropped them into the vials, perhaps hoping that some remnants of the previous occupants still lingered in the tiny folds and creases. Then they got back to their horses and left, the clip clop of the animals slowly dwindling to merge into the faint background noises.
The thing rose from the hard earth several hours later. It shed loose soil from its fearsome hide as it clawed its way up from its earthen grave, first on all fours like some new-born beast, then awkwardly on two legs. It was like some dark monstrosity, a hulking figure with sinewy muscles that wrapped around a massive skeletal frame, its rough-hewn face adorned with ridges and planes that hid deeply-recessed eyes. And yet, if one of the camping staff members had the chance, or the bravura, to come close enough to it, he or she would have no trouble identifying the figure as the camp's assistant cook, although one whose facial features had undergone drastic changes, as if underlying forces had buckled and warped the outlying bone and skin.
