Holes in the Ground

by J. A. Konrath

  The batling smacked itself into the glass, leaving a bloody smear and making Andy jump.

  “Trying toooo kill meeeeeeee?”

  “Only a quick nap,” Andy said. “We have someone we want you to meet.”

  Bub’s wings began to slow, and the act of staying airborne seemed to grow more difficult.

  “Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet?”

  The batling tried to stay airborne but its wings moved as if they were mired in clay. After a few feeble flaps it dropped out of the air and thumped to the floor.

  “Okay,” Rimmer shouted. “Move, move!”

  Handler typed in the command for the glass barrier to slide away and the two other guards rushed into the cell. They threw a thick blanket over the top of the subdued batling and grabbed a hold of it. Together they managed to heave the batling upwards and started waddling backwards out of the cell. Handler left the control panel and stood beside the metal crate, holding the lid wide open.

  “Quickly,” Rimmer said. “The gas took it down topside, but I don’t want to take any chances here.”

  Rimmer’s men readjusted their grip on the blanket-wrapped batling and hurried their pace towards the open crate.

  “Just dump it in,” Handler ordered, still holding the lid open.

  The two men forced the batling into the crate and stepped back, panting. The creature was obviously heavier than it looked.

  Handler shoved the lid closed with a BANG! and then locked the latch.

  “Finally!” said Dr. Gornman. “I was beginning to doubt that you people could even—”

  The crate’s lid sprung back open, smashing Handler in the sternum and sending him backward. The man hit the floor, wheezing.

  The hair on the back of Andy’s neck prickled.

  Oh, shit!

  The batling shook off the blanket and leapt into the air, its wings flapping with renewed vitality.

  “Take it down!” Rimmer ordered.

  Andy reached for his wife, tugging her away from the ensuing gunfire. A nanosecond later the hallway erupted into deafening pops of automatic weapons.

  Bub was riddled with bullets and his maw opened in a screech as blood rained down on everyone. The creature splatted to the floor, right next to Sun and Andy, reaching out a claw and slashing at Sun’s leg.

  The gunfire stopped—Rimmer’s men were obviously trained well enough to not shoot with civilians next to the target—and Andy kicked Bub in the side of the head while pulling Sun away. Rimmer stood over the creature and emptied the Glock into Bub’s head, blowing away most of the batling’s skull and face.

  Bub’s shredded wings fluttered, then went still.

  “Drag it to the cell!” Rimmer ordered. “Now!”

  As Rimmer and his men attended to Bub, Andy stared at Sun and saw her gripping the pulsing wound in her calf.

  “Artery,” Sun said, her eyes going wide. She dropped onto her butt.

  “Your belt,” Gornman told Andy. “Make a tourniquet. We need to get her into surgery, immediately.”

  Andy undid his belt with shaking hands, and as he looped it around Sun’s thigh he made the mistake of looking at her wound, seeing bone peek out through the split muscle fibers. The blood continued to gush. So much blood.

  Is that all hers? It can’t be. Such a small woman can’t bleed that much.

  As Dr. Gornman cinched the belt tight, Andy knelt next to his wife, cradling her head. “It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.”

  Further down the hallway was the whoosh of Lucas’s cell door closing. They’d dragged Bub inside and locked him in. Andy had no doubt the demon—even though it was missing most of its head—was still alive.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Kane shouted like a drill sergeant as he marched towards them from the direction of the elevator. His red cheeks looked ready to pop. “Who is responsible for this goddamn mess?”

  Nobody answered.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rimmer’s men had fetched a gurney and taken Sun up to the Spiral’s infirmary on level 3. The floor also acted as a warehouse. Men in work overalls shared the corridors with doctors and nurses.

  Andy sat outside the operating room that a pair of nurses had rushed Sun into. Dr. Gornman had quickly followed, but it had been over an hour since Andy had heard anything.

  I can’t lose you, Sun. Nothing would make any sense without you.

  The sound of someone hurrying down the hall made Andy glance up from his thoughts. Jerry was racing towards him with a panicked look on his face. The young historian, Nessie, was right beside him.

  “We heard your wife has been injured,” Jerry said. “Is she okay?”

  “Still waiting,” Andy said. “She… she lost a lot of blood.”

  Andy had never felt more tired, more afraid. He’d been in situations before where he had to fight for his life, and the fear and adrenaline had sustained him. But waiting to find out if the love of his life was going to survive was easily the worst thing he’d ever felt.

  I never volunteered to fight evil. I’m not a goddamn monster hunter. I didn’t join Deus Manus. Why are we even here?

  “I shouldn’t have let her come along,” Andy said.

  “I don’t know you or Sun very well,” Jerry said, “but if she wanted to be here, I doubt very much you could have done anything to stop her.”

  Andy let his head drop. “If she dies…”

  Jerry placed a hand on Andy’s back and made him flinch. He did not enjoy the contact, but he did not move away.

  “Things will be alright, man. Sun is really strong. She’ll be back and ready to kick arse in no time.”

  Andy hoped that was true. Because if it wasn’t…

  Then what?

  Then I dedicate my life to wiping Bub off the face of the earth.

  Dr. Gornman approached, her face revealing nothing. Andy stared, expectant.

  “We stopped the bleeding and stitched up the wound. She needed four pints of blood, and was very close to hypovolemic shock.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “She’s tough. I think she’ll pull through.”

  “I want to see her.”

  “Of course. The nurses are just making her comfortable in one of the suites. Head inside and take the door on your left.”

  Andy hurried into the operating theatre. It led into a wide corridor with several rooms running off it. He saw through the room’s windows that Sun was inside one of them along with two nurses. He barged through the door and moved beside his wife’s bedside.

  The two nurses left.

  “How you feeling?”

  “Numb. Lidocaine and morphine. It’ll be a while before I play racquetball again.”

  Andy choked up. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  “Me? Over that little scratch? You know I’m tougher than that.”

  Andy gave her a gentle hug, like he was holding a baby bird. “We’re getting out of here,” he said. “Soon as you’ve rested. Let them deal with Bub. It’s not our problem.”

  Sun eased him away, staring hard. “Is Bub in the cell with Lucas?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are they talking?”

  “I don’t know. Bub was in pretty bad shape. He’s going to take a while to heal himself. There are cameras on them.”

  Andy saw how his wife’s usually olive skin was now pale.

  “We need to see this thing through to the end.”

  “You almost died, Sun. You need to heal. And this isn’t a good place for it.”

  “I have to stay, Andy.”

  “Sun…”

  “Andy, I have to stay.” She raised her left hand, and Andy saw her wrist was cuffed to the bedrail.

  “What the hell is that?” Andy demanded. “That’s insane! They can’t keep you here!”

  “Andy…”

  “I’m going right to Kane and telling him—”

  “Andy! I told them to cuff me.”

  “What are you…” Andy’s voice trailed off as the realization h
it him.

  No.

  Not that.

  Anything but that.

  “You think Bub… infected you?” Andy whispered.

  “He clawed me. You know he’s got those stingers in his palms. You know he can manipulate DNA.”

  “Were you stung?”

  “I don’t know. I bled a lot. If he tried to inject me with his mutator serum, maybe none of it got into my system. But if it did…”

  “How do you feel?”

  Sun chuckled. “You mean, do I feel like I’m changing into a demon? That my cells are mutating? That I’m becoming possessed?”

  Andy didn’t answer.

  “I feel fine, Andy. But if I’m not… I… I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  “Is there any way to find out?”

  “Other than waiting? Gornman is scheduling some tests. I guess we’ll know when we know.”

  Andy hugged her again. She hugged him back.

  “I also need you to do something for me,” she said into his neck.

  “Anything.”

  “If I do… change… this is where I need to be. If there’s any chance of a cure, it’s here. They’ve got all the Samhain data, and Gornman may be a bit of a bitch but she knows her stuff. But if it looks like they can’t cure me…”

  “Sun, don’t talk like that.”

  “If they can’t… Andy, I don’t want to be one of Bub’s minions. I don’t want to be controlled by him. I can’t think of anything worse. If it looks like I can’t be cured… I want you to put me out of my misery.”

  “Jesus, Sun. That’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “Promise me.”

  “I can’t promise that.”

  “If you ever want to get laid again, you’ll promise me.”

  Andy felt himself tear up. “Okay.”

  “You promise?”

  “I promise.”

  There was a knock at the door.

  Andy turned as Jerry poked his head through the door with an anxious look on his face.

  “What is it, Jerry?”

  “Sorry, just checking on you.”

  “You can come in,” Sun told him.

  Jerry slunk into the room like he was about to be scolded by his mother. “So you, ah, doing alright?”

  “For the moment.”

  “Good. I’m glad.” He nodded at Andy, and Sun. Then his gaze turned to a chair in the corner of the room, where Sun’s things were stacked. Her purse. Some clothing. The blue disc that accessed the doors.

  “You can sit if you want to, Jerry,” Sun said.

  Jerry nodded but stayed standing. “Nessie is in the library. We found that batling thing in some old books. People used to worship it.”

  “Sometimes there isn’t a difference between religion and a totalitarianism,” Andy said. “Ruling by fear is the same whether it’s fascism, communism, dictatorship, or the church. We know Bub preyed on early mankind’s superstition and powerlessness. He’s been around long enough to be an archetype.”

  “Is he really the devil?” Jerry asked.

  “He’s a devil. I don’t know if that means he literally came from hell, or if he’s some psychotic life form from another world. But he doesn’t have our best interests in mind.”

  Jerry rubbed his chin. “I don’t know if I believe in God. There’s too much shit in the world, you know? I mean, if God exists, he’s like a deadbeat dad who abandons his kids. Either that, or he’s a sadist who likes watching people suffer. Do you believe?”

  “We’re atheists,” Andy said. “But we try to keep our minds open. That’s the point of science. You change your mind as new evidence comes in.”

  “So what about this whole Deus Manus set-up? You think they really are keeping evil from the world?”

  “I think they think they’re keeping evil from the world,” Andy said. “And some of the creatures they have here don’t look like they love humanity any more than Bub does. But I’ve found that, throughout history, a lot of people have done a lot of harm while claiming to do God’s work.”

  “Uhhhh,” Sun groaned.

  Andy’s head whipped toward her so fast he practically gave himself whiplash. “You okay, babe?”

  “Starting to feel the pain now.”

  “Should I get Dr. Gornman?”

  Sun shook her head, reaching for him. “No. Stay with me.”

  Andy turned to Jerry. “Do you mind?”

  “I’ll, ah, be in the library with Nessie. I hope you feel better, Sun.”

  Andy didn’t watch the kid leave. His eyes were locked onto his wife.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jerry headed for the conference room. From there he could make it into the dormitory wing and back to his suite. He was knackered after studying in the library for so long.

  The small blue disk in Jerry’s pocket was burning a hole. He touched its rubbery surface and felt his stomach churn. What would happen when Sun realised he had stolen it from her bedside table? And why had he even stolen it in the first place?

  Because I don’t want to be a prisoner like the things they have in these cells. I want to leave and get a million miles away from this place. I’ll happily give myself up to the police back home rather than stay here until they decide to ‘dispose’ of me.

  Jerry passed through the heated atmosphere of the conference room, the space filled with the sound of computer exhausts humming out hot air.

  Jerry stepped towards the door that led to the living quarters, but took pause.

  If I’m going to get the hell out of here. I should do it now, while everyone is distracted with what’s just happened. I could make it to the lift and take it to the top. Sun’s fob should let me access the controls.

  Jerry changed direction and headed out into the cellblock. The first cell now contained both the batling and Lucas, separated by a mesh of steel.

  The batling was stooped over on the floor, its wings wrapped around itself. It was obviously healing after being fired upon. The Manx man stared down at the creature silently, but glanced upwards when he noticed Jerry.

  “You off then, lad?”

  Jerry stopped outside the cell and looked in. “What?”

  Lucas smiled, although it lacked his usual cheeriness. “You’re leaving, I take it?”

  “I…”

  “It’s okay. Get going while you can. Things aren’t going to get any better around here.”

  Jerry frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean this place is a madhouse and the inmates want blood. Leave while you’re able.”

  “You want blood?”

  “Not I,” said Lucas. “This ugly little blighter on the floor. He’s just getting started.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I’ve been around a while. I know a lot about a lot. This one means to destroy the human race.”

  Jerry looked down at the wounded creature and wondered how it could possibly be a threat to mankind. It was no bigger than a chimpanzee.

  “Who the hell are you?” Jerry asked Lucas.

  “Just an interested third-party. An observer, if you will.”

  Jerry shook his head, rolled his eyes. “Dude, why you got to be all ‘riddle me this?’ Stop talking bollocks all the time.”

  Lucas grinned. “You’ve become quite the man since I saw you last, Jerry-lad. I see your heart. It swells with a courage once absent.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “I know you well, from a time forgotten by all but the most perceptive, but it’s of no import in this place and time. What’s important is that the angry little monster currently sleeping on the ground between us will soon be up and well again, and when he is, it would be better to be gone from this place. My advice to you would be to hurry up and get in that lift. Go home and face your punishment. Life may still hold promise for you.”

  “How do you know about me? How do you know the things that I have done?”

  “You wouldn’t understand.” />
  “Try me.”

  Lucas ran his fingertips across the mesh of the fence. He blinked slowly. “When faced with a man, I have little difficulty in reading the verses of his soul. Your past, your present—they are etched into your mind and body. And when read together, they hold glimmers of your future. Which is why I am telling you one more time to flee this place. I fear you will not live if you do not, lad. No one would blame you for running.”

  Jerry frowned. He had planned on leaving anyway; that was why he was in the cellblock after all, heading for the elevator. Lucas’s warning only added to the argument for trying to escape.

  “Don’t worry. I’m going. You take care, weird Irish guy.” Jerry turned and walked away. He fingered the rubber fob in his pocket, making sure it was still there. Then he headed down the corridor.

  Just running away as usual. But what choice do I have?

  Further on down there was a large bloodstain. It covered the floor in a congealed pool, and probably came from Sun. Jerry stepped around it squeamishly. There were also several patches of chipped concrete where bullets had doubtlessly struck.

  The elevator was just up ahead, past the cell with the horrible-looking vampire thing. It snarled and hissed at him as he passed, beating at the glass with its twisted hands.

  Gonna be really glad to get away from that nasty sod. He looks like he wants to rip me to pieces.

  Then something else caught Jerry’s attention.

  Wolfie sat up against the glass of his cell, wagging his tail and panting. When he saw Jerry pass by, he began to wiggle excitedly.

  “Hey, Wolfie. How you doing?”

  Wolfie yipped.

  “I still can’t believe they have you locked up down here with monsters like that thing next door. You’re not a monster; you’re just an animal.”

  Jerry thought about Lucas’s words and wondered if Wolfie would be alright once things turned bad. Was something bad really going to happen, or was the Irish guy just messing with him?

  Can I really walk away and leave everyone here to die?

  Wolfie jumped up on his hind legs and pawed at the glass with his front ones. His long pink tongue slurped across the glass.

  Jerry smiled. “I wish I could take you out of here with me, buddy. I bet you’d love it in the woods up there on the surface.