“Don’t worry,” said Lucas. “Ben forgives you. Deep down, he forgives you. The two of you have been through a lot. Even more than the two of you know or remember.”
Jerry just frowned and turned away.
“It’s a valid question,” Sun told Lucas. “What exactly are you? You’re not human.”
“Few things in this place are, my darling sweetheart.”
“So what are you?”
“I am what I am. One of God’s creations, same as you, same as him.”
Dr Chandelling produced a notepad and started making notes. His tongue peeked out the corner of his mouth as he did so.
“There is no God,” said Andy. “I know that, because a few cells away is a creature that disproves him.”
Lucas glanced sideways as if he could see through the cement walls of his cell and into the one adjacent. “You’re making assumptions there, Andy-boy. I know all about that cheeky little monkey, Bub. He had you believe he was a little grander than he really is.”
“So you’re saying Bub isn’t dangerous?”
Lucas huffed. “Oh, no, that egotistical feck will quite happily wipe humanity off the face of the earth. I’m just telling you not to give him more credit than he’s due. There is indeed a God and he is good. He created you and I, just like the bible tells it. But there are other things, too. Things you have within these very walls that were nothing to do with God’s plan. God isn’t the only creator in this world.”
Andy’s eyes narrowed. “Bub…”
“Aye, Bub has his thumbprint on a few of the world’s more unpleasant surprises. People ask why God lets bad things happen to good people. The answer is because this world does not belong to Him. Not completely. There’s a power struggle. A battle between black, white, and every other colour in between.”
“You’re talking gibberish,” said Andy. “What point are you trying to make?”
“My point is that the earth is a warzone—and the enemy is about to play its final gambit. You could think of this as D-day, only this time it’s the Germans who are storming the beaches.”
“And which side are you on?” Sun asked.
Lucas grinned, folded his arms. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see, my dear.”
“Fine, but you still haven’t said what you want with my husband. You said you were here to see him.”
“Aye, I am. Whatever happens deep down in this hole in the ground is going to be on him. I’m here to see the game play out. It will be very entertaining.”
Andy sighed and turned away. “I don’t have time for this guy’s riddles. Let’s go see the reason we’re really here.”
They headed twenty feet down the corridor until they were face to face with the batling. It still flapped about in the air, apparently able to sustain its ability to do so indefinitely. Like Bub, its metabolism was extremely efficient.
“Dennnisssonsss.”
Andy and Sun both looked at one another in surprise. They had not expected the thing to talk.
“You remember us?” Andy asked.
“We will tear you bothhh aparrrt.”
“Yep, he remembers us,” said Sun.
“What exactly happened between you and Bub at Samhain?” Dr Chandelling asked.
Sun shrugged her shoulders. “We tried to blow Bub up, right after melting his face off with radiation. Needless to say, we were unsuccessful.”
“Bet you pissed him off, though,” said Jerry. “Not a complete bust.”
“No, you’re right,” said Andy. “I’m pretty sure we pissed Bub off quite a bit.”
“Pathetic humans.”
Andy stared at the baltling, fought the urge to spit at the glass. “What are you up to? Why are you here? Answer me.”
“There isss a new kingdom beginning. Humanity’s time isss over. Bellum internecinum.”
“What does that mean?” Sun asked. “Bellum…”
“Bellum internecium. It’s latin. It means ‘war of extermination’.”
“Guy thinks he’s a Darlek or something,” Jerry muttered. “Exterminate!”
Andy laughed. “Maybe, but I assure you they’ll be no Doctor to come save us.”
“Your death will be the most painful, Andy Dennissson. We will claw my way down your throat and eat you from the inssside.”
“How does this thing know you?” Jerry asked. “He really seems to dislike you. And why does he keep saying ‘we’ like the Queen.”
“Sun and I have history with its creator,” said Andy. “There used to be one giant version of this thing called Bub. He exploded into a dozen of these smaller versions. They obviously still have Bub’s memories and think of themselves as one.”
“Or maybe they are Bub,” said Sun. “After all the things we saw him do, splitting his consciousness wouldn’t be that surprising.”
Dr Chandelling looked up from his notes. “It’s very interesting. This thing hadn’t spoken until you arrived. The fact that it remembers you makes it clear that this thing has a high level of intellect.”
“It’s as smart as you or I,” said Andy.
“Smarter,” Sun added.
“But damn if it’s not ugly,” said Jerry.
The batling turned towards Jerry and bashed into the glass. It blinked its eyes sideways and growled. “Quiet your tongue, slug.”
Jerry stepped up closer to the glass. “Who you calling a slug, knob head?”
The batling bashed the glass again. Despite its thickness it actually vibrated half-an-inch.
“Interesting,” Dr Chandelling made some more notes on his pad. “The creature seems to exhibit an ego. That means it has self-awareness.”
The battling bashed the glass a third time. “We have awareness of all. We see into your souls, you pathetic worms.” The batling descended slightly, hovered at head height beside Dr Chandelling. “We know about Aaron.”
Chandelling dropped his note pad on the floor. His pockmarked jaw dropped open.
“Doctor, are you okay?” Sun asked.
“Yes, I’m…I’m fine. If you’ll excuse me I have to go and compile this data.” He picked his notepad off the floor and hurried away.
“Tricks and chicanery,” said Andy. He was unimpressed. As much as he knew the danger of the thing before him, he knew that it was just playing games, trying to gain control. “You can bully and manipulate whoever you want, but you’re trapped inside this cage and that is where you will stay until we decide to destroy you. You belong to us now.”
The batling bellowed with laughter. It flittered about in the air, titling and spinning. It finally stabilised and looked out at them with pure hatred in its bestial eyes. “You humans know nothing, but soon you will see. Soon you will understand how meagrely-numbered are your days. The end is coming. You will all die.”
“Bite me,” said Jerry.
Chapter Thirteen
Dr Chandelling holed up in his office and closed the door. The first thing he did was open up his prized StereoMatic 564 record player and put on the soothing tones of Bing Crosby. Lesly had been born in the mid-60s but had grown up to the backdrop of his father’s records. The music of his own generation had lacked the sophistication and class of the decades before—the time before the disco and the drug scene had sullied things.
Lesly sat down at his desk and eased back into the soft Italian leather of his office chair. He budged the mouse on his desk and made his laptop’s screen flicker to life. It displayed the neatly ordered desktop and the background image of Lesly’s class photo from the rundown high school he’d attended in his home town of Canton, Ohio. They had been happy days. The smiling face of his teenage self had no understanding of the perils that his adult life would bring.
How did that thing know about Aaron? Nobody knows. It was kept secret as part of my deal.
Lesly pictured Aaron’s handsome, boyish features and sighed. He missed the young man, wondered what he was up to right now.
Did he leave South Africa like he had always dreamed? Did
he make it to England?
Lesly missed the classroom a great deal, missed teaching. Being surrounded by young minds keen to learn was so much better than being amongst the monsters buried inside the Spiral. The things he had seen…
But I’ve been here so long now I don’t think I could ever go back to teaching even if I wanted to. I’m too disconnected from the world. Things have moved on. I’m institutionalised, no different from a prisoner. I may have the freedom to leave, but the knowledge of what is down here makes it impossible to live a normal life. It changes everything.
The Spiral was Lesly’s life now, whether he liked it or not. The life he had once had before was but a morose memory.
But somehow the past had followed him down there.
That thing knows about Aaron.
Somehow the battling knew Lesly’s deepest secret. It knew about the boy he had once passionately loved. The boy he had been forced to abandon in order to keep his career intact.
If the batling tells anyone about it, I might lose my place here. I’ll have to go back out into the world. I can’t survive out there. Not now.
I can’t let that evil monster ruin my life.
I can’t.
Dr Chandelling leaned forward on his desk and began to think.
Chapter Fourteen
While Andy and Sun tried to figure out the batling, Jerry decided to walk up and down the corridor and check out the various creatures imprisoned behind the glass. It was like something out of his wildest fantasies. Of all the films, books, and games he had experienced, they all paled in comparison to the real thing.
He passed by a misshapen creature with long arms and ropey white body hair. It looked a little like what Jerry imagined a yeti to be like, but the text on the LED screen read, Grendaline Historicum.
The most frightening creature on the level was the thing in cell 6 named Nosferatus Hominic. The monster looked mostly like a man but its jaws were more like a shark’s with rows upon rows of lethal dagger-like teeth. Every time Jerry walked past cell 6 the thing glared at him. It moved up to the glass and watched him hungrily. It was like being stalked by a lion and Jerry was glad for the six-inch barrier separating them.
The thing in there definitely wants to play.
In the next cell was Wolfie, or Lycanus Canus as the LED display noted. When the hairy, dog-like creature saw Jerry, it too came closer to the glass, but it wasn’t in a threatening manner like the occupant of cell 6. Wolfie just sat down behind the glass and watched Jerry walk by with interest, its ears pricked up like a border collie’s.
“Hey, there,” Jerry said, stopping in front of the cell. “Do you want to eat me? Or are you just bored?” Jerry stared at the creature and watched as it titled its head inquisitively. “Yeah, I think you’re just bored. How long they had you caged-up down here? Years, I bet.”
The creature let out a soft whine. It was somewhere between a begging sound and one of barely-contained excitement. Jerry noticed Wolfie had a tail and that it was wagging enthusiastically.
“I used to have an old dog named Betsie,” Jerry said, wondering if it was silly talking to a giant werewolf, but not really caring. “My mom was always working and I was at school, so Betsie would get left alone a lot. Whenever I walked through the door she would go completely barmy. She would run around the flat back and forth between the rooms, whining and yelping. When she finally calmed down she would sit on my lap with her legs in the air and I would tickle her belly. I can’t imagine how miserable she would have been if we’d locked her up and just never come home.”
Wolfie titled his head further, tail wagging faster.
“I don’t think it’s right that they have you down here. You don’t look dangerous to me. You may have bitten that General dude, but he’s an asshole anyway.”
To Jerry’s surprise, Wolfie let out a bark. It was the friendly, yippy bark that Betsie had used to make when he would come home from school.
Jerry grinned. “Dude, I would so adopt you if I could. Ben would shit his pants if he saw me walking you around the block. Oh yeah, right. You don’t know about Ben.”
Wolfie spun a circle, wagging his tail, before sitting back down and tilting his head again.
“Ben’s been my best friend since like forever. We grew up together, were in the same class in first school. I think I used to get on his nerves sometimes. He was smart, had his shit together, you know? I’ve always been a bit of a disaster zone. He always stuck by me, though, through thick and thin. Thing is, he wasn’t just my best friend, he was my half-brother. Only he didn’t know about it. My mom had an affair with his dad when they were both really young. Mom got pregnant but he didn’t want anything to do with it—the prick. He was getting married to another woman who was pregnant with Ben at the time. So I grew up without a dad. Through some crazy coincidence, I ended up making friends with Ben on our first day of school. Of course, I didn’t know then that we were brothers. It wasn’t until I was older that my mother came clean—although it took a bottle of vodka and some bad Chinese food to make her tell me. I was shocked at the time, upset, you know? But in the end I decided to keep it to myself. Ben and I were so close anyway. What difference would telling him have made?
Ben’s dad used to treat me like shit whenever he caught me hanging around with Ben. Used to warn him that I would bring him down. Who he was really slagging off, though, was my mom. He had money, a businesses, a nice little family. My mom had me and a crummy council flat. Ben’s dad—my dad—looked down on me and my mom like shit on his shoe from the moment I was born.” Jerry took a moment to catch his breath. He was breathing hard and felt anger in his veins. “When my mom died he didn’t even come to the fucking funeral. I was so mad.” Jerry took a breath and let it out in a bitter chuckle. “I showed him, though.”
Someone stepped out of the elevator at the end of the corridor and startled Jerry. It was a young bird with auburn hair and pale skin. Her red lips seemed to sparkle as she smiled at him.
“Oh, hi. Sorry,” he said. “I know I’m not supposed to be walking around here on my own, but the Dennisons are just down the hall.”
“It’s okay. Don’t see what harm you could do anyway. General Kane is just being overly cautious. Being a hardass is kind of his job.”
“Yeah, I guess. Doesn’t mean I have to like him, though.”
The girl giggled. “I’m Nessie. Pleased to meet you. You must be Jerry?”
Jerry blushed. “Pleased to meet you to. Take it you’ve been warned about me.”
“Nope. Dr Chandelling just told me that the Dennisons had a young Englishman with them. Love your accent by the way. Reminds me of my daddy a little. He was from Belfast. Not the same, I know, but it’s still a nice change from all the American accents I’m used to hearing.”
Jerry smiled. He wanted to say something funny, or at least interesting, but nothing came out.
“So, what are you up to?” Nessie asked him.
Jerry shrugged his shoulders. He wondered if she had heard him talking to the creature in the cell. If she had he was embarrassed. No point hiding it though. Last thing to do in a secret underground government facility was act suspiciously. “I was just chatting with Wolfie here.”
Nessie raised an eyebrow and gave him a lopsided grin that was extremely cute. “Wolfie?”
“Yeah, better than calling him Lycanus Canus.”
“I suppose you’re right. Don’t know who came up with all the names, but they do lack a little bit of colour. Wolfie in here can be quite playful. I smuggle a few chew toys in once and he seems to like them. Don’t tell the General, though. It’s strictly against the rules.”
Jerry smiled. He was glad there was at least one person looking out for Wolfie. “So, erm, is there anything I can help you with? I’m supposed to make myself useful around here.”
Nessie chewed the side of her mouth and seemed to think. “You can help me do some research in the library, but I’m only going to be in there for an hour or so. Fatal
Autonomy is on later and I never miss it.”
Jerry laughed. He was surprised that someone so bookish could be a diehard fan of a flaky TV cop drama. “You actually like that show?”
Ness nodded enthusiastically. “I love it.” She put her hands up in front of her. “I know I know, it’s kind of lame, but I just find it fascinating. I hear they base the killers on real life psychopaths.”
“Wow, I did not know that. To be honest, I haven’t watched it since that got rid of the fat sidekick. She was hilarious.”
Nessie grimaced. “She was awful. The show is lot more serious now that they’ve gotten rid of her. Harry McGlade is much darker.”
“Then perhaps it’s time I give the show another chance,” said Jerry, feeling himself blush but not knowing why. He also suddenly needed to go to the toilet real bad.
“Great, then it’s a date. I’ll just check in with Andy and Sun and then I’ll show you to the library. The main one is on level 4, but there’s a smaller one down here that has all the material relating to the subjects on this level. It’s pretty cool, if you’re into that kind of thing. It would be good to have company. It can get a little lonely in there.”
“Then I’m very happy to come,” said Jerry, wondering why there was suddenly so many butterflies in his belly. Perhaps he was coming down with dysentery. Was it okay to drink the water in the United States? He assumed it must be.
“Come on,” said Nessie. “I’ll lead the way.”
Chapter Fifteen
Andy and Sun learned what they could from the batling for two hours—which amounted to very little—and then made their war to the conference room. Sergeant Rimmer was sat at the long conference table, filling in paperwork while sis radio squawked constantly on the table in front of him; his well-trained men reporting in habitually.
“Mr and Mrs Dennison. How are you settling in?”
“Fine, thanks,” said Andy. “This isn’t our first rodeo.”
Rimmer stroked his long beard and sighed. “I always said they needed better security at Samhain. I never knew what they had there exactly, but I knew it was of the highest clearance. Anything that important should have had a bunch of armed guards watching over it.”
Holes in the Ground Page 29
