The Netherwell Horror

by Lee Mountford

  Though William’s vision was fading, he saw one of his flailing hands before him. His fingers had congealed together, the flesh runny like wax, while some of it floated away into the substance around him. Red meat was exposed as the skin was stripped. Blood clouded what he could see.

  And the pain. Christ, the pain. It broke his mind. Every fibre was melting and boiling and flaking. William could no longer scream—his jaw was no longer attached and now floated before him as it dissolved.

  The contractions started again, pulling him farther up and pressing into his liquefying body even more. A gooey eye squeezed free. He felt his head split. Not crack, but rather, it slopped apart at the cranium, like a soft-boiled egg.

  Eventually, as his body dissolved around him, William was granted the mercy of death, and his liquefied remains were sucked upwards to be consumed by the nightmare.

  42

  Keep going, Josh told himself. We’re going to make it.

  After reaching the bottom of the stairs, Josh had expected a fight with the remaining cult members, but it turned out they were all just too terrified at what they’d just seen and wanted to escape with their lives. One of the cultists was snatched up just as they reached the bottom of the stairs—the danger wasn’t over. The remaining members of the Order disappeared inside of the Heritage Centre again to hide, running in through the back door.

  A sound idea, Josh thought, but Beth had ordered them to keep away from the Order, shouting that they couldn’t be trusted.

  So, they kept close to the outer walls of the building, pressing themselves against the vertical planes in an effort to keep out of view. Then they slipped through into an alleyway between buildings and waited for a few moments while they assessed their options.

  The creatures in the street beyond were still being plucked up by those writhing tentacles. They waited for what they thought was their best chance, when the numbers were thinned enough, then sprinted across the street and into another alleyway, successfully avoiding being grabbed.

  The group quickly and quietly made their way down a backstreet, still pressed tightly against the walls of the houses, and eventually managed to move out from under the titanic beast. Then they dashed inside an empty house, close to a footbridge. Despite there being a sickening bloodstain on the floor of the living room, it seemed safe and empty. The pictures on the mantelpiece above a fire showed an old couple who looked happy. Now, Josh knew, they were likely dead.

  Josh hadn’t liked how Beth had tried to let one of those tentacles take her. It fucking scared him. She couldn’t just give up like that. If anyone should be sacrificing themselves for the good of everyone else, it should be him.

  Then he remembered he had unfinished business with Aiden. Josh quickly walked over to the young man.

  ‘How do we stop what’s happening to my sister?’

  Aiden, who had been peering from a window, turned to Josh. ‘What? What do you mean?’

  ‘You know what I mean. How do we get rid of what’s growing in her? What they did to her up on the cliff, how do we reverse it? How do we abort it? Tell me.’

  Aiden’s eyes fell to the floor. ‘I… I don’t know.’

  Josh grabbed him quickly by his shirt and forced him back into a wall. ‘You have to know!’ Josh shouted. ‘You know everything about this shit. Now tell me! No games!’

  ‘I’m telling you the truth,’ Aiden replied, holding up his hands in submission. ‘The Master told us most of what we know about how to keep the doorway open. It never talked about how to stop or reverse it.’

  ‘Then guess!’ Josh yelled, and slammed Aiden’s head against the wall.

  ‘Josh!’ Beth shouted, but Josh was in no mood to listen.

  ‘Tell me how to stop it!’

  Aiden’s wild eyes flitted around the room in panic. ‘Perhaps, when breaking the seal... if we get her back home, and away from this world, then whatever is inside of her will die.’

  ‘And that will work?’ Josh asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Aiden stressed. ‘I honestly don’t. Not for certain. But if the link to this world is gone, then maybe what is in her will die. I can’t know for sure, though. None of us can.’

  Josh felt anger and helplessness rise inside of him. ‘Maybe you don’t know, but I know someone that will. Someone who can reverse this.’

  ‘Josh,’ Beth said, softly, coughing as she did. ‘It’s over. Let me go.’

  He turned look at her. His sister’s skin had now taken on a sickly, yellow pallor. ‘No,’ he stated. ‘You didn’t give up on me, even though you had every right. It isn’t over.’

  ‘It is,’ Beth stated firmly. ‘You don’t owe me anything, so just let me go.’

  Josh shook his head. Tears flowed from his eyes. ‘I can’t, Beth. Not knowing you came here for me. All I’ve ever done in my life is run. Run away from people who cared about me. I just couldn’t cope with letting them down and failing them.’

  ‘You never failed me, Josh.’

  ‘Bullshit,’ he said. ‘I’ve let you down every step of the way. Ever since Mum.’

  Beth cocked her head. ‘Mum had a heart attack, Josh. That wasn’t your fault. Finding her dead like that must have been horrible for you.’

  ‘I didn’t find her dead, Beth,’ Josh said, sobbing now. ‘When I found her, she was alive and clutching her chest. She begged me to call for help; her face and lips were all blue. But I froze, Beth. I fucking froze. I was so scared I couldn’t fucking move. I wanted to help, but I just pissed my pants and watched her die.’

  Beth could only look at him in disbelief.

  ‘I’ve never told anyone,’ Josh went on. ‘But I could have saved her if I’d just stepped up. So, I mean it when I say I just let people down. I couldn’t bear to be responsible for anything like that again.’

  ‘You were fourteen,’ Beth said. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’

  ‘It was,’ he stated. ‘But I won’t let that happen to you.’

  A silence hung between them, broken after a few moments by Aiden. ‘Sorry to interrupt, but what did you mean when you said there is someone who can reverse this?’

  ‘The one that started it,’ Josh said. ‘We go and see your precious Master and put an end to it all.’

  ‘The Master?’ Aiden’s face fell in horror. ‘You can’t. It will kill us!’

  Josh looked over to Beth again, but when he spoke, it was directed at Aiden. ‘We’ll find a way.’

  An almighty crashing and rumbling noise drew their attention again, and everyone quickly gathered around the living room window. Casting his eyes up towards the Heritage Centre, Josh saw the massive beast start to move its many legs and turn itself around. As the creature did, three of its thick legs swept into—and through—the stone building, collapsing the structure with a deafening roar. The stone blocks fell in a cloud of dust and rubble that swept down the street. The giant creature started to walk away, each thudding footfall sending shockwaves through the ground around them. The wave of dust rolled past the window, clouding the air outside.

  ‘Christ,’ Jim muttered. Jess sat whining in the corner of the room. ‘We truly are insignificant here, aren’t we?’

  And they were. Gnats in a world of giants and horrors. But the titan that slowly lumbered off had seemingly cleared a lot of the dangers. That meant now was the perfect time to run.

  ‘Then let's get out of here,’ Josh said. ‘It’s time to go home.’

  43

  Jim was struggling to keep up with the others. His heart hammered in his chest and he worried he was pushing it too hard. But stopping wasn’t an option. The activity on the streets now, due to the titan cleaning up during its feast, was minimal, and their progress to the footbridge was unimpeded. The group soon made their way back up the steep hill that led to the clifftop.

  A stinging pain ebbed out from his chest.

  Come on! Just a little farther!

  Jess ran along beside him, easily keeping pace. She kept casting him worried g
lances.

  Creatures roamed on the side of the river they soon emerged onto, but nothing moved fast enough to cause any real concern. The group soon made it up to the street at the top of the bank, close to Jim’s house. It felt strange seeing the home he had shared with Ada for all those years now with a completely alien backdrop behind it, with the strange, moving stars in the sky. Concentrating, Jim noticed something else moving between the stars as well. Though it was hard to make out clearly, Jim thought he could see a vast living mass of unimaginable proportions. It moved over the pulsing light of a star, easily sucking the ball of gas into its much larger form. The star blinked out permanently.

  Jim quickly looked away. What he had just seen could surely not be possible. He had a little understanding of how light worked, and how long it took to travel from stars so far away. So, if he could actually see whatever it was that had devoured the star from this great distance, then it must have been nearly the size of a solar system, or even bigger.

  Ignore the madness, Jim, he told himself, knowing that if he thought about it too much it would drive him crazy. His heart hurt with every beat, but the group managed to push closer and closer to the clifftop.

  Perhaps, against all odds, they were going to make it. Though he was slower than the others, his ageing body and tired heart had managed to keep up with them so far. He could now see the base of the towering cylindrical pillar, black with slivers of blue and white light escaping. The immense living column had acted as a beacon to them, visible from everywhere in town, and now they were close. Close to the symbols and markings that would send them home.

  Jim let himself smile with relief. Who’d have thought an old fool like him could survive something like this?

  Then, he heard something coming from behind him.

  Jim turned to look back and saw an object closing in—a horrible, flying thing that was focused on him. It made a terrible and loud buzzing sound.

  Before it grabbed him, Jim was able to take in its full, terrible detail.

  The buzzing was caused by multiple wings that moved so fast they were a blur. These wings held aloft a fat body of greys, browns, and greens, with eight dangling legs. The body, which had masses of tumorous clustered eyes devoid of pupils also bore a huge, bulbous, and hideous head. It was the vertical, open mouth that terrified Jim most of all in the brief instant before it grabbed him.

  The creature flew into Jim and its mouth snapped shut around him, covering him from his knees up to shoulders, and pressing tightly, compressing Jim to breaking point. He felt small, stubby teeth dig into him, and Jim let out a scream as he was taken up into the air.

  ‘Jim!’ he heard Beth cry out from below, but it was no good. The giant insect—if it could be called that—flew quickly and erratically away, swooping round in an arc and carrying Jim from the clifftop, off towards the giant black mountains in the distance.

  44

  Beth could do nothing but watch as Jim was taken by the flying creature. Jess barked continuously, and then began to howl.

  Her mind tried to come up with a way to help her friend. Surely it couldn’t just be over for him? Not like this. Perhaps they could chase the creature, keep up with it, and see where it landed? Maybe Jim would still be alive and they could help him.

  But she soon realised that was futile. The thing was moving too fast, and within minutes it became a small speck on the horizon.

  ‘He’s gone,’ Josh said sadly. ‘We need to keep going.’

  Beth turned to glare at him, fire in her eyes. ‘Just like that?’ she asked, not hiding her rage. ‘Just forget him and keep going, eh?’

  Josh looked forlorn as he nodded. ‘I’m sorry, but yes. We need to get you home. This should prove that we are always in danger here.’

  ‘I never doubted that, Josh. Just look at the nightmare around us.’ She pointed off to the giant tower. ‘Look at that thing. A fucking titanic column that is apparently alive and some kind of God.’ She then gestured to the mountains in the distance, and the huge demons on their edges. ‘Look at those. Monsters of a size we can barely comprehend. I mean, we’ve just seen something I can barely comprehend destroy a building, and that was only after it sucked up people like they were candy. We’ve seen an entity tear a person apart with its mind. Oh, and then there is that fucking thing.’ She pointed up to the sky, and to the swirling mass of stars that formed a terrible, cosmic eye. Even glancing at it set off a horrible tapping sound inside her head, so she quickly looked away. ‘I don’t need reminding of how dangerous this place is, Josh.’

  ‘I know that,’ he replied. ‘But there isn’t anything we can do for Jim. I’m sorry about what happened, truly, but by standing around, we just increase the chances of something like that happening to us. To you. And I won’t let it.’

  ‘I’m not yours to save, Josh,’ Beth said.

  ‘You are this time,’ he said. ‘You’ve always tried for me, even though I threw it back at you. Well, I need to fix my own mess this time. You aren’t going to die here, Beth. I won’t allow it.’

  Beth suddenly bent double and a stream of black bile spewed from her mouth with surprising force. She then fell to all fours, wheezing and feeling incredibly weak. Josh was quickly at her side.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked, fear and worry evident in his voice.

  ‘I’m not going to survive this, Josh,’ she said. ‘Believe me, I wish it were different. But we have to stop what’s happening here.’

  ‘I will,’ Josh said, then lifted Beth to her feet. He threw one of her arms over his shoulder so that she could rest her weight on him. Josh started to move forward again.

  ‘Come on, girl,’ he said to the whimpering dog with them. Jess wouldn’t follow, however. ‘Aiden, bring the dog. We aren’t leaving her.’

  Aiden did as ordered, grabbing Jess by the collar, and the hound reluctantly came with them, her head hanging low as she walked.

  Beth looked back, off in the direction Jim had been taken. Whatever was going to happen to him, she prayed it was quick.

  45

  Jim felt his ribs crush under the pressure of the slimy mouth. Short but sharp teeth punctured his body in numerous places, and he felt blood flowing from each wound, which only seemed to stimulate and excite the creature. The ground below was miles away now, and was no longer the town of Netherwell Bay, but instead an alien landscape of blacks and reds.

  There was no going back for him now. He was going to die in this nightmarish realm. He knew that. Despite the pain, he tried to think of Ada.

  The flying creature dipped down and Jim saw they were heading towards an outcropping from a black mountain whose peak towered above even them.

  As they neared, he saw the flat plateau contained something on its surface. A mass that seemed to be alive, squirming and writhing. As he neared, Jim realised what it was: a pit, filled with lifeforms. Maggot-like creatures, yellow and grey, with bulbous eyes along their fat bodies and mouths at the head that dripped and oozed. As the huge insect that held him swooped closer, it buzzed louder, almost deafening Jim. The intermingling maggots below, that all looked to be half the size of a human, turned their open mouths up towards Jim.

  They were the young of the creature that carried him, he realised. And this was their nest.

  ‘No!’ Jim screamed and began fighting and straining anew, but the grip of the mouth around him was too powerful. He was lowered helplessly to his doom as the giant insect landed on the edge of the pit.

  Jim frantically wriggled his legs—exposed from the bottom of the vertical maw—in a desperate attempt to get free. The creature dipped its head.

  Jim could not see what was happening, only stare into the maddening expanse at the top of the insect’s head. He could see those eyes. Hundreds of them.

  Everything in this damned place seems to have way too many fucking eyes. It was horrifying.

  Then, as Jim was dipped lower, he began to feel it.

  His right leg became snared at the shins as somet
hing contracted over it. Spindly teeth dug into his skin and pulled. He screeched in pain as the flesh was stripped away in a quick motion. Jim continued to wail in agony. The thing that held him then lifted him up again, chattered, then lowered him back down. More mouths took hold below. Some reached up to the knee of his left leg, others working on the exposed bone of the right, snapping it off. He yelled helplessly and tried to think only of Ada, not the pain he prayed was temporary. Jim was hoisted up a little yet again, and the monster let out another chatter. Its body shook, then it lowered him again.

  Jim had the awful feeling it was playing with him. Somehow, if insectile creatures were capable of it, it was actually enjoying his pain.

  This time, however, after dipping him down, the huge mouth opened, finally releasing him. Jim dropped a short distance into the squirming and disgusting mass of the nest.

  As soon as he made contact with their firm, wrinkled bodies, the enormous maggots swarmed him. Their puckering mouths—lined around the rims with sharp and spindly teeth—started to feast. One creature went straight for his stomach, burrowing into his gut. Others clamped over his arms and what remained of his legs. The agony of being eaten alive was immense. Jim could feel his flesh being sucked and stripped from his bones, causing a fiery suffering that flooded through him. Nerves were exposed, then torn free. His left arm was pulled violently away, popping from the socket. Meat and tendons kept the arm attached momentarily, but the stringy lengths of flesh soon split and the greedy monster pulled away its prize.

  Jim could see the wriggling abominations all around him, fleshy and pulsating lengths of veiny fat and puss littered with small and irregular bristly hairs. The squeaky chatters the things emitted were horrifying.

  The old man prayed he would just die, but his body held out—against his will—for more pain and torment.