by Bryan Alaspa
“That ceiling won’t hold much longer!” Lazlo screamed back.
“Joe!” J.D. commanded. “Clear us a path!”
Joe and Mark stepped into the hallway. They fired down the hall and then into the hole in the floor. Bodies began falling on either side, cluttering the floor. The floor became slick with green blood. Joe motioned back to J.D. and he and Mark turned the corner to head back down to the recreation room.
“Come on!” J.D. screamed, grabbing Monica from under the desk and pushing her forward.
Lazlo came next, firing his pistol as he moved. Karmen stayed back, holding off the ones who leapt through the hole in the ceiling. Just as she stepped into the hallway and ran for the stairs the ceiling in the control room collapsed. The crash was deafening despite all of the noise of gunfire and alarms. Creatures fell over each other and landed on piles of bodies. The sound of claws echoed down the hall after them.
* * *
Larry Appling pounded on the door as the alarms went off. His voice didn’t carry far of the din and his throat went raw. He pounded on the door until his hands hurt but it became obvious rather quickly that no one was going to open the door and let him out. He heard J.D. shouting and he heard footsteps running but he never heard the door opening.
“Goddammit!” He screamed at the door.
Larry backed away from the door and he looked around the room. There was nothing he could see that would allow him to batter down the door. There were pictures of a family on the desk and dressers. More pictures dotted the wall. He cursed at all of them and sat down on the bed.
The gunfire made him jump back up and resume his door-pounding. There was no possible way for anyone to hear him over the din of the gunfire combined with the alarm but Larry didn’t take that into consideration as he yelled. His voice became scratchy and his throat hurt.
“You can’t do this to me!” He screamed. “You can’t do this to me you fuckers!”
“They don’t respect you,” said a voice from within the room, “that’s you problem, Larry. Always has been.”
Larry turned and pressed his back against the door. The room seemed much darker than it had been before. Shadows crept from the far corner and draped across the bed. From within this shadow a figure stepped forward into the dim light. Larry found himself starting into the eyes of Kevin Iler. He was dressed in one of his best business suits and he smiled a smile a shark would have been proud of.
“Kevin?” Larry asked.
“The one and only,” Kevin replied. “Don’t look so surprised. Did you really think I would let anyone else handle this?”
“You asked me,” Larry said.
“And I trust you, Larry,” Kevin said good-naturedly, “but I know that the men don’t respect you. They never have. Not even that J.D. guy you seem to put so much of your trust in. Didn’t his disobey you? Remember? That time in Nicaragua?”
“I gave him his orders,” Larry said, “there weren’t supposed to be any witnesses left.”
“Exactly,” Kevin said, “what’s a few dead women and children when you’re trying to protect a nation?”
“How do you know about Nicaragua?” Larry asked.
Kevin stepped forward, narrowing the gap between him and Larry. “I know about everything, Larry. I do my research.”
“Can you get me out of here?” Larry asked.
Kevin approached Larry and put his arms around his shoulder. He hugged Larry to him like he was his little brother.
“Of course I can,” Kevin said. “I can make all of your wishes and dreams come true.”
Larry put his hand to his head. There was something in his head, driving deep into his brain. It was like having fingers rooting through his mind. He heard screams but he wasn’t sure if they came from the control room or inside his head.
“What’s all that screaming?” Larry asked.
Kevin laughed. “Don’t you worry about that, Larry. You get used to that.”
“Why would you want to?” Larry questioned.
Kevin laughed again. He put a hand on each of Larry’s shoulders and turned to face him. “Just trust me on this one, Larry. Now, as for getting you out of here, I think I know exactly how to do it.”
Larry was lost in the eyes that hovered before him. They appeared to be swimming with colors. He saw red and black like congealing blood and then he saw blue and green. He was pretty sure Kevin had green eyes. He tried to move his leg and found that his leg would not moved. When he looked down he saw that cables from within the floor had ripped through the floor and entwined his legs.
“What?” He asked.
“I’m giving you what you’ve always wanted, Larry,” Kevin said. “I’m making you a part of the company. Literally.”
Kevin laughed and threw his head back. Metal from beneath the carpeting of the room flowed like water over Larry’s legs. Electrical cables and wires from within the electrical heart of the rig entwined around his legs and slithered up his body. Larry looked up at Kevin’s face and saw the façade fade and the demon beneath. The eyes blazed with fire and the teeth were long and sharp. Metal flowed from its fingertips and wires vomited from its mouth.
Larry tried to scream but once his mouth opened the wires reached down his throat. He felt them scratch and tear their way into his mouth and his esophagus. Tears ran down Larry’s eyes and his head tilted back as wires formed chords of muscle over his face and eyes. The last coherent thought that Larry Appling had before any independent thought was erased was a prayer for his soul.
* * *
They reached the recreation room by shooting their way through the horde. The bodies fell on either side of them as they pushed forward in a cluster. J.D. and Joe entered the room and immediately took up positions near the door. The rest of the group filed in quickly, Mark and Lazlo still firing their weapons. Karmen came up the rear, but when she entered the room she immediately dropped to her knees and began rooting through the bag she carried. She removed some kind of twin-holster device that she slung over her shoulders and strapped across her stomach.
“How are we doing on ammunition?” J.D asked once he saw her remove the holsters.
“We’re running through it fast,” she replied.
Sounds emanated from the ceiling. Monica huddled against the wall, continuing to scream. Lazlo re-loaded his pistol and then fired the entire load into the ceiling. Green blood oozed from the holes. The floor beneath them surged upwards. The tiles beneath Monica burst open. She screamed as clawed hands reached up for her.
J.D. turned and fired into the upraised arms as hands gripped Monica’s legs. Mark ran forward and grabbed her flailing arms. The claws sunk into the flesh on her legs and her scream increased in pitch and intensity. Her eyes pleaded with them. Drool ran from her mouth. Her legs sank below the floor. Mark pulled with all his might. Lazlo grabbed hold of Mark’s waist and began to pull. Both of them were back on their heels, pulling with their combined strength. Monica’s scream never ended. Blood began running from her mouth. There was the sound of breaking bones, a sickening, awful snapping and crunching noise. J.D. ran over and fired into the hole. He emptied the magazine and the claws gave. Mark, Lazlo and Monica collapsed in a heap.
“Goddamit!” J.D. screamed.
Monica had stopped screaming. Mark and Lazlo scampered out from beneath her. Her legs were gone at mid-thigh. Blood pumped in time with her heart from the severed femoral arteries. The jet of blood had already begun to slow. Claw marks had left tears in her clothes and skin all down her body. Her eyes showed only white and were rolled into the back of her skull.
“Goddammit!” J.D. screamed again.
He loaded a fresh magazine and began firing into the hole again. His scream changed from words into one continuous howl as Monica’s heart stopped and her life ended beside him.
“J.D.!” Karmen yelled.
They were crowding into the room. The doorway was piled high with bodies, but more creatures swarmed behind the piles. As J.D. watched Karmen’s weapons a
t last ran out of ammunition. Without a pause, she tossed the weapons aside, reached both hands behind her back, grabbed the handles sticking out of the bottom of the twin-holsters. She removed two long, slender but viciously sharp blades and tore into the mass of hands, heads and claws.
J.D had seen Karmen use these blades before. She had invented them herself. They were composed of some kind of metal that J.D. had never been able to identify. Each blade was narrow and curved slightly, made of one long piece of metal, even the handles. The metal was light weight, flexible but unbelievably strong. Karmen kept each honed to such a fine edge that J.D could swear just waving your hand near the blades would cut you.
Karmen was something to watch. She tore into them as if she had battled these types of creatures before. She swung her legs, feet, hands and arms, whirling like a dervish among gnashing teeth and tearing claws. It was like watching a human lawn mower as she ripped through them. Intestines, limbs, heads, body parts of all sizes and shapes flew through the air along with long gouts of green blood that spattered the walls and ceiling. The claws cut her legs, arms and across her face, but she never stopped even for an instant. Even with her back to them, her hands knew the way to move to stab one of the blades into a body.
Joe ran out of ammunition next. He retreated back into the room and dug through the bag. He came up with a long curved sword in a scabbard. The samurai sword glinted in the dim light as he slid the blade out. He joined Karmen in the doorway and hall beyond. The sword flashed, sliced, shredded the flesh.
J.D. fired his gun until the gun clicked uselessly in his hand. He too retreated to the bag. He removed a blade different from either of the others. His had started its life as a ceremonial piece. A friend of his who was a Marine gave him the sword when he discovered he had cancer. J.D. had sharpened the sword to a level it was never meant to have. Then he had modified the grip by welding a heavy piece of metal that curved over his knuckles. The sword resembled a kind of pirate’s cutlass and the finger-guard could be used to punch an opponent if needed. J.D. joined the fray of flashing metal.
Mark and Lazlo sat against the couch and watched. Mark had never seen Karmen or J.D. in full battle. It was a sight that he could not fully grasp while watching. The enemy surrounded them on all sides. Hands tipped with razors were inches from their flesh, but they never wavered or faltered. They never seemed to tire. They always knew where the next body was. Despite the ferocity and the foreign nature of the enemy, they did not pause for even a second. Beneath it all was a kind of joy that Mark could never full describe. This brutal, bloody, violent activity is what each of them was built for. Their entire purpose was to kill and they had honed these skills to an edge as sharp as the blades they carried.
The battle went on and on. The blood ran in rivers through the hall. Body parts lay on the ground twitching and clutching at air. Demonic beings made mewling noises and attempted to hold in their intestines. Mark and Lazlo sat next to each other clutching useless weapons and waited for them to fall and for the final onslaught to begin. Then, just as a claw tore through Karmen’s right arm and teeth bit through J.D.’s left leg, the creatures froze as if they were a videotape on pause. In whatever action they had been in moments before, they were frozen stiff now.
Karmen, Joe and J.D. each hacked to pieces three of for more before fully realizing that the enemy no longer attacked. They stopped. All three backed into the recreation room, eyes darting from one frozen face to another.
“What the hell happened?” Joe asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” J.D. whispered.
The sound of clapping came to them at that point. From within the frozen crowd of demonic bodies a figure began to move, weaving through the crowd. Into the light of the recreation room stepped Kevin Iler. His face was beaming and his hands moved in rhythm. He was wearing the suit he had been wearing when they last saw him.
“Bravo,” he said.
“What the fuck?” Karmen said.
“It’s a lie,” J.D. said, “it’s not really him.”
“No shit,” the thing with Iler’s face said. “Your knack for stating the obvious is most impressive, J.D. I just wanted to tell you that I admired your work. Too bad about poor Monica though.”
The thing pointed at the lifeless body. Monica’s arms began to move. Her eyes were still rolled back into her head, but the hands dug into the carpet and the legless body pulled itself around. The head raised and the lips pulled back from the teeth revealing rivers of blood running from the gums and between the enamel. She appeared to be smiling. He hands pulled until it reached the hole in the floor. With an athletic flip, the body swung into the hole and vanished.
“She’ll make a lovely addition to the team,” the Iler-thing said. “I figured you had enough of the stereotypical demon thing. You’re out of bullets and sufficiently tired for me to bring on the next act.”
The Iler-think smiled again and turned its head from side to side, letting each of them see the horror that was its eyes. Red and black swirled together. It was like looking directly into the fiery pits themselves. The sounds of screaming filled the air again and this time J.D. would swear he could hear Monica’s scream mixed in with all the others.
“You see, “ Iler said, “while you’ve been pre-occupied with these ridiculous creatures, I’ve been having a chat with your prisoner.”
The thing paused as if it enjoyed the drama of it all.
“He always was a company man,” Iler said, “and now he’s really a part of this entire operation.”
The creature began to laugh. The form began to shift. J.D. stepped forward, the sword swinging as he moved. He would have had better luck trying to cleave the wind. The creature turned to shadow, faded and disappeared. There was a bright flash of light and the demonic beings in the hall and on the floor vanished as well.
“What did that mean?” Karmen asked.
“We need to check on Larry,” Joe said.
The entire room shuddered as though something extremely large had just struck the rig. J.D. staggered and nearly fell. There was a moment of silence and then the room shook again. This was followed by a sound that was part roar and part scream. The sound came from over their heads and from the area where Larry had been locked up.
“Oh fuck,” J.D. moaned.
* * *
They ran up the stairs and down the hall. J.D., Joe and Karmen were bleeding from numerous cuts. When they reached the spot where Larry had been locked in they found the door smashed to pieces from the inside. Huge gouges had been taken out of the wall across from the door and trailed off down the hall. Inside the room they found gaping holes in the floor and walls which exposed the electronics within the walls and floor.
“What the fuck does this mean?” J.D. asked.
“I have no fucking clue,” Joe said.
J.D. turned to look at Mark. “You have any clues? What is this thing? Is that Satan or something?”
Mark shook his head. “I doubt it. I can’t really believe if there was a Satan he would worry about an oil rig. This is some kind of demon or force from within the dimension the drill burst through. It could very well be something from within our own minds.”
“Are you saying we made him up?” Lazlo asked. “We just saw him.”
“I’m not saying he is just within our minds,” Mark stated, “I am saying that he could be something pulled from our collective minds and made into something somewhat solid. You said it appeared to you as Karmen and then your own father. It just appeared to all of us as Mr. Iler. That was a person of authority that we would all recognize. Remember, I said the rig itself has become affected by the forces emanating from that hole. It could be the rig itself has grown a kind of consciousness. Maybe it doesn’t want to be blown up.”
“Why make itself look like other people?” Joe questioned. “Why conjure up Hollywood-style demons?”
“I think it’s toying with us,” Mark said. “If it’s not just the rig itself, and some other kind
of consciousness working in conjunction with the rig, then maybe it just wants to play. Maybe it’s been trapped in that pocket dimension for centuries and exploded out of there in a rush. Now that’s it’s had time to stretch its legs it wants to have a little fun. Regardless, it’s gathering strength. I’m not sure the hole is even closing anymore. It may be completely open right now. The hole might be the size of a pin or a pencil-point, but each time it appears here and each time it succeeds in taking one of us with it, it grows stronger and that hole gets bigger.”
“Do you think by killing us it could have enough strength to make itself look like one of us?” J.D. asked. “Maybe long enough for a rescue team to show up and take it back to the mainland?”
Mark shrugged. “J.D. if anything, we need to now acknowledge that anything is possible.”
“If it’s not really Hell, then what are all those screams?” Lazlo asked.
“We could be talking about a creature nearly as old as the planet itself,” Mark said, “taking lives and souls and things with it for centuries. We may very well be hearing the sounds of countless souls screaming in torment. Maybe it takes them with him. Maybe it’s the echoes of those it has taken before. I really don’t know. It could also just be a trick to affect our minds and weaken us. If we are frightened, our heads filled with those sounds, we are easier to fool.”
“A lot of theory but nothing that helps us fight it,” Karmen said.
“I can’t even begin to suggest how you would find concrete evidence of something that seems to function on a supernatural level,” Mark said. “As for fighting it, I think the theory of closing that hole and shutting down this operations is still the best way to go.”
“Provided the rig lets us,” J.D. said.
“Precisely,” Mark confirmed.
“Where the hell did Larry go?” Joe asked. “What the fuck happened in this room?’
J.D. sighed. “Whatever it is I am sure it is horrible and will soon reveal itself.”
As if to answer that the entire structure shook again. They reached out for one another to steady themselves. The lights dimmed for a moment and then came back to full strength.
