Forsaken

by Michael McBride

  The man moved in a blur.

  Evans was on his hands and knees before he even sensed the blow coming. He grimaced and blood dribbled from his mouth.

  “That is enough,” the woman in the gold mask said. She set her hand gently on the man’s arm. “We will be done here soon.”

  Kabuki Mask stared down at him for several seconds through eerie blue eyes before turning and following her toward the surface.

  Jade reached beneath Evans’s arm and helped him to his feet. He wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand.

  “I’m starting to think you might be bad luck,” he said.

  “I don’t believe in luck.”

  “Then maybe you can explain how this kind of thing happens whenever you’re around.”

  “Have you considered it might be you?”

  “You’re not the first to have suggested as much.”

  “I’m sure.”

  They passed through the four chambers and paused at the mouth of the tunnel to the surface. The men in the lead dragged the body bag through the orifice. The woman followed. The man who’d clocked Evans held a gun on him while he crawled inside.

  The fresh air on his face felt amazing. He took several deep breaths before emerging into the crater in the middle of the Avenue of the Dead. He was surprised to see the faint outline of the mountains to the east. It wouldn’t be long before dawn commenced in earnest.

  He heard the grumble of tires on gravel in the distance. Headlights appeared seconds later from the far side of the visitors’ center and rocketed toward them.

  Evans climbed out of the hole and shielded his eyes against the high beams, which silhouetted the woman and the two men carrying the ancient remains. He tried not to look at the bodies scattered around the trailers, at the men and women with whom he’d spent the last six months and the tourists unfortunate enough to have chosen yesterday of all days to linger in the ruins.

  Three black Chevrolet Suburbans sped straight toward them and split up at the last possible second. The two on the outside parked sideways to serve as a barrier for the third, which swung around and presented its rear.

  The woman strode to the bumper, lifted the tailgate, and climbed up into the trunk of the SUV. She looked directly at Evans through inhumanly blue eyes nearly identical to those of the others.

  “We will radio when we are in the air,” she said. “Try not to kill them before then.”

  “Or at all,” Evans said.

  Crimson Handprint kicked him in the backs of the knees and he went down hard. There was a gun pressed to the back of his head before he could even look up from the ground.

  Anya shrieked and hit the dirt beside him. He reached out and took her trembling hand in his.

  “It’s going to be all right,” he whispered, but he knew he wasn’t fooling anyone.

  Jade collapsed on the other side of him and, with sheer hatred in her eyes, looked back at Kabuki Mask, who’d knocked her down. He pressed his gun to her brow between them.

  “Just do it if you’re going to,” she said.

  “Turn around,” he said, and swatted her with the barrel.

  She closed her eyes and hung her head. Blood dribbled from the laceration across her hairline.

  Evans struggled to rise, but was driven back to his knees.

  “Do not worry,” Kabuki Mask said. “Your turn will come soon enough.”

  The two men carrying the ancient remains loaded the body bag into the trunk beside the woman, who traced the contours of the animalian face through the vinyl almost lovingly.

  “At long last,” she whispered.

  A crash of shattering glass.

  Evans looked up in time to see a silhouette on the hood of the Suburban reach through the broken windshield and haul the driver out over the steering wheel. It buried its face into his neck before he could cry out. Blood spattered the dirt road.

  The men behind Evans fired at the silhouette. The report so close to his ears was deafening.

  Bullets sang from the hubcap, punched through the front quarter panel, and made the body of the driver jump.

  The attacker dove into the SUV and bounded into the backseat. The side window shattered and glass cascaded all around it.

  The woman scurried from the back of the truck and grabbed the end of the body bag.

  “Help me!” she screamed.

  The two men rushed to her aid and lifted the silver bag out of the trunk.

  The dark form of their assailant scrambled over the backseat and paused for the most fleeting of moments, its hands braced between its feet, its shoulders hunched, and its elongated head lowered between its knees. Evans caught a flash of eyeshine when it looked at him, and recognized it for what it truly was.

  “Hollis?” he whispered.

  Richards would have been unidentifiable were it not for his facial features, grossly distorted though they were. His body had been completely transformed into that of an alien being. His skin was gray and marbled with the black vessels underneath. Like Dr. Dale Rubley, he’d mutated into something completely lacking in humanity.

  He’d transformed into the alien species colloquially known as Grays.

  The creature opened a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and issued an undulating sound that chilled Evans to the core.

  Uhr-uhr-uhr-uhr-uhr-uh.

  It sprang from the tailgate, hit the ground on all fours, and pounced onto the back of one of the men carrying the remains. His wet jacket and the flesh underneath opened beneath a flurry of claws. He stumbled. Lost his grip. Collapsed onto his chest with the weight of the creature upon him.

  “Go!” he shouted.

  The creature reached around his neck and underneath his chin and, with a flick of its wrist, released a spray of blood onto the ground.

  Evans grabbed Jade by the hand and pulled her toward him.

  “This is our chance!”

  The men behind them fired. Their bullets kicked up dirt at the creature’s heels, but it was too fast. It took down the other man, who lost his grip on the body bag on his way to the ground. He clawed at the earth in a desperate attempt to distance himself from the monster, which was upon him before he could even scream.

  A bullet took a bite from the creature’s shoulder and knocked it from on top of the man, who seized the opportunity to make a break for it, only to be struck in the leg by friendly fire.

  Evans shoved Anya out from beneath Crimson Handprint’s pistol as it bucked in his grasp and rained smoldering brass casings all around them. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted toward the side of the road.

  “Run!” Evans shouted, and pulled Jade up behind him. “Don’t stop until you find someplace to hide!”

  The woman in the golden mask screamed and dragged the body bag toward the nearest SUV, which reversed between her and the creature. The driver rolled down his window and started shooting straight back at the others in the hope of cutting the creature to ribbons in the crossfire.

  Evans hobbled as fast as he could. Every inch of his body ached, and he was certain it would give out on him long before he reached anything resembling freedom, but they wouldn’t get a second chance to escape.

  The taillights of the third SUV lit up and the wheels spun. Gravel pinged from the undercarriage until the tires gained traction and the Suburban launched straight backward at the creature.

  It jumped up onto the fender, cleared the roof, and came down on the hood with the hollow thump of buckling metal. The driver raised his weapon and shot at it through the windshield. It rolled over the side and bounced back up the moment it hit the road. Hurled itself at Kabuki Mask, who’d been prepared to put a bullet through the back of Evans’s head only seconds prior. Opened him right up the gut as it drove him to his back.

  Anya blew past the trailers and the fenced-off hole and headed for a gap between stone temples.

  Evans’s leg gave out and sent him sprawling. He released Jade’s hand before he took her down, too.

  “Ke
ep going!” he yelled.

  She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him through the dirt.

  “Damn it, Jade! Just go! I’ll catch up!”

  She looked up from his face and froze. Her eyes widened.

  Evans followed her gaze to where the creature lunged from the top of the screaming man before the Suburban could back over it. The tires bounced from Kabuki Mask’s body, and mercifully silenced his screaming.

  The woman in the golden mask dragged the remains around to the far side of the distant SUV. The interior light came on when she opened the rear door. The driver reached between the front seats and helped her pull the body bag into the backseat. She climbed in behind it and slammed the door.

  The creature turned at the sound.

  Uhr-uhr-uhr-uhr-uhr-uh.

  It sprinted after her vehicle, dodging the SUV swerving around for another pass at it and ducking behind the idling SUV with the shattered windshield. Its hideous visage turned blood red in the glare of the taillights as the Suburban accelerated away from it.

  The man with the crimson handprint on his mask, who’d struck Jade across the face, climbed into the other SUV. It took off before he even had both legs inside and raced down the Avenue of the Dead. It caught up with the other vehicle as it rounded the visitors’ center and sped off into the night.

  When the creature realized the race was lost, it stopped and screamed in frustration. The sound was like the hiss of steam through a ruptured pipe. It dropped to all fours in the wash of the abandoned Suburban’s headlights, rounded on Evans, and bared its horrible teeth.

  “Run!” he shouted, and propelled himself to his feet behind Jade.

  47

  ROCHE

  FOB Atlantis

  The roar of the incoming water echoed from the ice dome like a coliseum full of spectators shouting for their deaths. The ground bucked underfoot. Chunks of ice the size of meteorites struck all around them.

  They weren’t going to make it.

  Roche sprinted straight down the boardwalk, his sole focus on the darkness ahead, where the elevator shaft hid in the deep recess. He prayed not only that they’d make it that far, but that the elevator would be there when they arrived.

  A reptilian shape streaked past him through the shadows to his left. He caught movement from the corner of his eye to his right. Recognized what was about to happen and slid as though trying to beat the tag at home plate.

  The creatures attacked from either side and converged at a point directly above his face. They screeched and scrapped as he glided out from beneath them, flipped over onto his stomach, and fired repeatedly into the tangle of talons and feathers.

  A block of ice slammed to the boardwalk beside them and they flopped, bleeding, down into the darkness.

  Roche lunged back to his feet and ran. Two silhouettes stood apart from the shadows ahead of him. Barnett was way out ahead of everyone else, while Tolliver tried his best to catch up. He never saw the creature slither out from beneath the lower rail and lash out at his legs. He screamed and landed squarely on his face. Rolled onto his back and started shooting.

  A flash of discharge and a bullet screamed past Roche’s ear.

  He dodged left and collided with Delaney, who managed to rebound from the railing without losing his balance. A block of ice streaked past the back of his head and destroyed the wooden planks at his heels.

  Tolliver yelled and shoved the creature’s snapping jaws away from his face. He was unable to ward off the second, which appeared from beneath the boardwalk and clamped down on the side of his neck.

  Roche pushed himself to get there, although by the time he was within range, there was nothing he could do. The feathered serpents dragged Tolliver’s body over the side, leaving behind deep scratches in the wood and a pool of blood that drained through the cracks.

  The advancing wave hit the ruins with a thunderous explosion, filling the air with spray and hurling rubble ahead of it.

  Roche glanced to his left. All he could see was a churning black mass of destruction bearing down on him.

  They weren’t going to make it.

  Massive granite blocks bounded across their path, demolishing entire sections of the boardwalk at a time. Roche leaped over a gap as the leading edge of the water rushed across the stones below him.

  The elevator shaft separated from the shadows. Still maybe two hundred feet ahead of him. His heart nearly stopped at the realization that the car wasn’t there.

  Dark waves hammered the side of the boardwalk, rising as a wall of spray beside him before crashing down upon the planks. He splashed through the freezing water as it attempted to sweep his feet out from underneath him.

  A creature scrambled up onto the railing ahead of him, lowered its shoulders, and extended its long neck. Its eyes reflected the red glare. The comb of feathers along its neck stood up. Its wicked teeth parted and it issued a high-pitched screech.

  Skree—!

  A megalith erupted from one side of the boardwalk and crashed through the other, pounding the creature’s breast and sending it careening off into the darkness.

  Roche jumped over the rubble, lost his footing on the slick wood, and barely caught the railing before being carried over the side. He climbed up on top of it, raised his arms for balance, and ran as fast as he dared.

  Barnett pulled up short of the elevator platform. The car still wasn’t there. Something must have happened to the others. It should have been there by now.

  He glanced back, shouted something Roche couldn’t hear over the deafening advance of the water, and sprinted for the shaft.

  The boardwalk vanished beneath the waves, which propelled all kinds of debris ahead of them, forcing Delaney to climb up onto the railing behind him.

  Barnett reached the empty chute, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and started to scale the ladder-like support girder. He was barely five feet up when Roche reached the end of the railing and jumped down into the water, which pulled him under the moment his feet hit the slick boards. It was so cold it made his skin hurt. He fought to the surface and slogged toward the platform.

  The water rose up the steps and raced across the concrete pad into the shaft. It struck the back wall and fired a flume twenty feet into the air.

  They weren’t going to make it.

  Roche stumbled up the stairs. The rising water was above his knees by the time he slung the SCAR over his back, grabbed the girder, and started to climb.

  Delaney grabbed for the rail as a wave bludgeoned him from the side, hurling him against the back wall.

  Roche reached down and caught him by the wrist before he vanished beneath the violent waves. Bellowed with the strain of dragging Delaney against the current. The moment the other man had a grip on the girder and his head above water, Roche started to climb, but the freezing lake was rising faster than he was.

  Shouting.

  He looked up to see Barnett scurrying back down toward him as the elevator sped down the shaft toward them.

  “Stop!” he shouted. “For the love of God—!”

  The brakes bit down on the rails and showered them with sparks.

  Barnett jumped and caught the girder several rungs farther down. He chest struck and he nearly bounced right off.

  The elevator screamed to a halt mere inches above his head.

  For the elevator to stop, that meant there had to be someone—

  “Hurry!” Kelly screamed.

  She pressed her face against the side grate in the driver’s cutout and looked down at them only briefly before ramping the motor up once more. The car lurched and the brakes disengaged. Slowly, the car started back up toward the surface.

  “Jesus,” Roche whispered.

  Barnett lunged for the support rails on the bottom of the elevator and swung across them toward the far end, where he would be able to crawl through the door and into the car.

  Roche climbed as fast as he could and followed Barnett’s lead. He barely managed to secure his grip before th
e water flooded up over his feet. He swung from one rail to the next, toward where Barnett was already pulling himself up into the elevator.

  Delaney climbed the girder until he was within range and jumped. Caught the support post right behind Roche. Lost his grip. Grabbed Roche’s right leg and nearly dislodged them both.

  “Hold on!” Roche shouted.

  He wrapped his right arm around the rail and reached down.

  The water eclipsed the mouth of the shaft and raced upward in a solid column.

  It was all Roche could do to hold on as the freezing lake rose over his head and into the elevator.

  The cold was such a shock that he nearly let go. His entire body clenched. There’d been no time to take a breath and what little air he had was already heavy in his chest.

  The water suddenly retreated and took Delaney with it.

  Roche gasped for air and watched the water level fall below him.

  Delaney burst from the surface twenty feet down, flailing his arms in an effort to stay above the water, even as the current sucked him under. Roche saw the sheer terror on his face a heartbeat before a dark shape erupted from behind him and scurried up his back in an effort to use him as a life raft. It buried its claws into the muscles beside his neck.

  Delaney screamed and both of them went under.

  The lake washed back out of the shaft, taking Delaney’s body with it. The ground grew farther and farther away as the elevator ascended, until it was lost to the darkness beyond the reach of the red glow of the emergency lights.

  “Give me your hand!” Barnett shouted. He hung upside down from the open door of the elevator and reached toward Roche.

  “We have to go back for him!” Roche yelled.

  “There’s nothing we can do for him now!”

  “We can’t just leave him!”

  “He’s already dead and you know it!” Barnett shouted, his expression not without sympathy.

  Roche tried for Barnett’s outstretched hand, but quickly grabbed the rail again. He was shivering so badly he couldn’t trust his grip.

  Kelly pressed her face against the wire mesh and looked down at him from the control cutout.