Bloodless

by Douglas Preston

  She pulled her radio again. “Commander Delaplane, in Forsyth Park. We need SWAT, we need National Guard, we need heavy weapons, we need full mobilization. Now! Now!”

  And just at that moment, the panicked, mindless crowd reached the police staging position, surging over them like a human tsunami, and Delaplane felt the glancing impact of a burly man with a shaved head, and she staggered backward as the crowd streamed by.

  66

  FOLLOWING PENDERGAST, COLDMOON SPRINTED up the basement stairs and into the lobby. The normally sedate space was quickly filling with a crush of panicked people streaming in from outside, seeking shelter. Some were sobbing with fear, others hysterical, a few drunk. As they pushed their way through the flow, Coldmoon wondered where the hell Constance had gone to when she’d slipped out of the room like a cat. God knew what that bloodthirsty woman was going to do.

  Once they were outside, the situation was even more chaotic. To the south, in the direction of the political rally, he could see a monstrous flying creature circling like a buzzard, its outline shimmering with an otherworldly gleam, a strange glowing cross, almost like a scar, on its left wing. Something—a body—was gripped in its claws. Pulling his firearm, Pendergast ran toward it, against the crowd, and Coldmoon struggled to keep up. The air was filled with the din of screaming, sirens, and sporadic gunfire. The sidewalks and streets were packed with panicked people trying desperately to get away, to get anywhere, as long as it offered refuge from the creature.

  As he watched in awe and horror, the monster flung away the corpse in its talons, which went tumbling off into the darkness, and then swooped down on the terrified crowd still in the park, to a chorus of screams and a scattered volley of weaponry. It rose again, beating its wings, with several fresh writhing people in its talons, wings shimmering.

  Coldmoon stared at the fearful thing, trying to keep moving, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. This was not Wakinyan, the Thunderer, the sky spirit his grandmother had told him of. Nor was it Unktehi, the huge horned serpent that had troubled his childhood dreams. No: this was some terrible amalgam, a foul obscenity, a battle-scarred monster that had no place on Earth or in mythology.

  No place on Earth…

  “Keep up!” Pendergast barked as they struggled toward the park, while the thing whirled overhead, tormented by gunfire as a bull might be by fleas. It dropped once in a while to scoop up more people, ripping them apart in midair, flinging the pieces away and then diving again, in a fury of bloodlust.

  Pendergast dodged and weaved through the flow of people like a cat, Coldmoon in his wake. “We have to get closer to it,” he said. “And gain some altitude.” Then, suddenly, he pointed. “The church!”

  Coldmoon heard a crash ahead and saw the amplifier towers toppling over in a shower of sparks and sizzling arcs of electricity. A moment later, flames licked up from the giant wooden stage, swiftly growing into a conflagration. The fire seemed to excite the creature, driving it almost to madness: it circled around, wings brushing the fire and scattering burning lumber, and made a loop above Whitaker Street, wingtips clipping trees and striking the façades along the park, sending glass and bricks crashing into the crowded street. A car, crushed by a falling tree, burst into flames.

  The fabric of the Whitaker Street Methodist Church loomed up, its steeple outlined against the fire. They ran up the front steps. The oak doors of the church were closed and locked, terrified people huddling in the portal. Pendergast snaked his way through them, went for the lock on the door, and in a moment had it open.

  As people streamed into the sanctuary, Pendergast veered off toward one side. They paused to catch their breath and take stock. Coldmoon could see the orange light of the burning grandstand flickering through stained-glass windows.

  “This way,” Pendergast said.

  He had found a stairway behind a door, and they began climbing, taking the stairs two at a time. In a moment they came out in the choir loft, facing a wall of organ pipes. But Pendergast was already making for a locked door in one corner; a quick twist of his wrist and it flew open, revealing an old iron staircase spiraling up into darkness.

  Round and round the tower they climbed, until they were stopped by a ceiling with a trapdoor. Pendergast slammed it open with his shoulder and climbed into a small square room surrounded on all sides by louvers. Countless small bells hung suspended by ropes from horizontal beams: the church’s carillon. But Pendergast, paying no attention to these, pushed his way through the louvers, triggering a din of tinkling bells, and came out on a small walkway that surrounded the steeple. Coldmoon could see they were above the treetops. The monster, still circling, was coming around in a long, lazy loop that would take it directly past the church.

  “Higher,” said Pendergast. He swung up, grasping a rusty iron ladder fastened directly to the outside slope of the steeple itself.

  “Wait!” cried Coldmoon. “Don’t you realize this is hopeless?”

  Pendergast paused ever so briefly.

  “We already know what’s going to happen!” Coldmoon shouted. “We saw it!”

  “Nothing is certain!” Pendergast replied fiercely, and began climbing.

  67

  CONSTANCE STARED OUT OVER the rooftops to see, circling above Forsyth Park, a creature out of a nightmare. Leathery wings spanning several dozen feet or more sprang from a swollen, hairy abdomen, itself festooned with two rows of greasy, foot-long paps. Protruding above the wings was a head that looked like a hellish mix of horsefly and mosquito: compound eyes gleaming in the reflected light, wicked proboscis slithering in and out from its maw. Big as it was, the head was still horribly small in comparison to the distended body, and it gleamed like the chitinous exoskeleton of an ant. As Constance stared, the beast seemed to go in and out of focus—once, twice—its silhouette flickering like a bad video.

  She had seen this effect before: when looking through the portal.

  Even as she watched in horror mingled with fascination, the thing swooped down toward the park and, talons furrowing up divots from the ground, snatched up two individuals. Rising again, it squeezed them between its claws like grapes and let the remains drop away.

  Constance spun around. Miss Frost was standing beside her, one hand over her mouth, horror-struck.

  “I imagine this is your work,” she said coldly. “Yours and Ellerby’s.”

  “No—”

  “Ellerby pushed the machine too far, didn’t he?”

  The old woman stared.

  “You went into the basement. You confronted him. You knew he’d built a new machine. And you knew what it might do.”

  “I didn’t know—” Frost said breathlessly, backing up against the French doors.

  “But you guessed.” Constance advanced on her. “You could have stopped him. You could have destroyed the machine.”

  “He threatened me—”

  “You didn’t stop him because you loved him.”

  Frost had no answer.

  “When Ellerby was killed, you could have said something. Maybe this”—she flung back an arm—“could have been prevented. But you were in denial. You stayed up here, playing the piano and drinking absinthe, while that demon out of the Old Testament killed, and killed again. And now those deaths, and this destruction, are on you.”

  “No, no,” the old woman croaked. “Please, I didn’t know. I’ll do anything—”

  “Maybe you can redeem yourself,” said Constance.

  The old lady gulped for air. “How—?”

  “Help me kill it. You said you had a collection of weapons. Show me.”

  After another shuddering breath, Frost took tight hold of her cane and stepped inside from the balcony. She led the way into the library. One wall held display cases of objects of unusual industrial design. Frost hurried up to the adjacent wall and touched the plate of a light switch, which opened to reveal a large brass drawer pull, fastened vertically.

  “You do it,” Frost said, stepping aside. “
It takes strength I no longer have.”

  Constance grasped the handle and pulled. With a creak, a large section of the wall swung away on hidden hinges. Beyond she could see a row of narrow metal doors, all closed, spaced perhaps four feet apart, marked with labels.

  Frost pointed with her cane. “Third door on the left.”

  Constance opened the door and turned on the light. Arranged on shelves she saw a veritable museum of weaponry. Along the left wall were derringers, dueling pistols, ancient six-guns, and—ironically—a Les Baer 1911 Heavyweight. And on the wall to her right were two long guns, including an ancient Henry .44 rimfire lever-action. Beside these rifles was an automatic weapon with a drum magazine and—beneath it—a worn wooden case with black stenciling on one end.

  “I helped bring that thing to life,” Frost said. “I have a duty to destroy it.”

  “What about ammunition?”

  She pointed to the weapon with a drum magazine, resting on two rubber-covered hooks. “This Thompson tommy gun has a full magazine.” She glanced back at Constance. “I suppose you’ve never handled a machine gun?”

  “Not one that small.”

  Frost began to laugh, then faltered when Constance did not smile.

  “And that?” Constance pointed to the wooden crate.

  “A recoilless M1 ‘stovepipe’ bazooka.”

  Removing the wooden lid and flinging away a covering of straw, Constance saw a metal tube, about the length of a bassoon but with a wider mouth, painted in camouflage. A handgrip was attached to its belly. Nestled against it were shells with fins. Constance lifted it out.

  “No,” Frost said. “That one is suicide. Those old solid-propellant rockets become unstable over time. The ones in that crate are only ten years younger than I am.”

  “Very well.” Putting it back, Constance picked up the tommy gun and swiftly examined it. There were two lollipop-style toggle switches set just above the left side of the wooden grip. Constance swiveled the rear switch from “safe” to “fire” and the front switch from “single” to “full.” Then she reached for the charging handle on the right side of the receiver and, with a firm yank, pulled it all the way back.

  “I guess you weren’t kidding,” Frost said.

  At that moment, the lights flickered, then went out.

  Carrying the gun, Constance ran out of the storage vault, through the library, and to the balcony. It was brighter outside, the city painted with flames from a dozen fires. She paused, shocked anew at the sight of the creature and the destruction and death it was wreaking. It was closer than where she’d first seen it, gliding over the park, approaching the hotel.

  She knew the drum magazine carried a hundred rounds, which seemed adequate to bring down the creature. It was not an accurate weapon, better at spraying bullets at close range than hitting anything distant.

  She waited. The monster was making long, low circles over the city, dipping down and killing as it went—getting closer to her with each turn. Now and then, she could see the impact of bullets against it; they dimpled the chitinous exterior, and occasionally penetrated it, but none appeared to do serious damage.

  She raised the weapon, brought the notch and post of the sights into alignment, and watched it, waiting. It approached and banked, exposing its underbelly—and she fired a burst. The submachine gun bucked in her hands, the rounds rattling around inside the drum. She saw her fire was dropping too early and she corrected. With her second burst, she saw shimmering gouts of blue stitching their way along the thing’s underbelly, and she knew she’d connected.

  With an unearthly screech the creature veered around and came arrowing straight for her, its leathery wings cutting through the air. As it approached, she stood her ground, firing short bursts. Although most of the rounds hit home, and they had clearly done some damage, their main effect seemed to be enraging it further.

  Still it came on, screeching, directly at her. Constance held her ground, firing. At that moment she heard a whoosh and a tongue of smoke like a tracer bullet spiraled toward the creature, striking one wing with a massive explosion, spraying phosphorescent flesh and blood. The creature squealed and dove away.

  Frost was standing at the other end of the balcony, bazooka on her shoulder, its business end resting on the parapet.

  “I thought you said that was too dangerous to use,” Constance called out.

  “Less dangerous than that hell-spawn,” Frost replied.

  It was rising up into view again, shrieking its desire for revenge, compound eyes shining like ghastly reflectors. There was now a small, ragged tear in one wing, caused perhaps by the bazooka. Constance aimed, let off the final burst from her magazine.

  And then, suddenly, Constance was knocked down by an explosion, the Thompson skittering away and off the edge of the balcony. She sat up, her ears ringing, as a roiling cloud of smoke rose up, revealing Frost, lying crumpled near blown-out French doors. The bazooka lay across her, its tube petaled and afire.

  It was all too obvious what had happened.

  The beast had veered off. Constance took the opportunity and rushed over, scooped up Frost, carried her inside, and placed her on a sofa. The old woman’s crimson Japanese nightgown was now soaked with blood. There came a shuddering crash from outside as the creature rammed the building, all the windows shattering and throwing glass across the carpets, the entire structure shaking.

  At the noise, Frost’s eyes fluttered open. They came into focus, swiveled toward Constance. And then the mortally wounded woman raised one arm and—with a faint crook of the index finger—beckoned her nearer.

  The creature rammed the building a second time, plaster falling and cracks running across the walls and ceiling. A chandelier fell with a crash.

  Constance knelt. The woman gripped her forearm with surprising strength, staring into her eyes. Her lips moved, but no sound came.

  “How,” Constance asked, “can we kill it? It seems almost impervious.”

  “It must be…super…”

  “What?”

  “Superposition,” she gasped. “It…exists in both worlds. But it can be harmed…far more easily in its own.”

  The old woman’s hand went limp and slid off hers, falling to the floor.

  Constance heard the creature’s scream of rage and saw it heading once again for the balcony. She sprinted for the door as another crash sounded, this one massive, apocalyptic: the beast was beating its wings against the building, clawing at it, shaking it to its foundations. Constance flung open the door to the staircase and fled down it as another blow came; there was a crackle of splintering wood and grinding brick; and then, with a roar of collapse, everything came down around her and there was only darkness.

  68

  CURSING, COLDMOON FOLLOWED PENDERGAST up the outside pitch of the steeple, grasping one rung after another. He wasn’t normally afraid of heights, but the ladder was badly corroded and he could feel it shifting and groaning under their combined weight. Everything looked so tiny below: the people like ants, their screams faraway…except here, at eye level, the monster itself was enormous, terrifying: flapping and gliding, its bug eyes rotating, that horrible mouth tube sucking in and out. As it passed by, it left in its wake a foul reek of burnt rubber, its talons dripping with gore and tattered clothing.

  As it glided northward toward their hotel, Coldmoon, clinging desperately to the railing, could hear the stuttering sound of an automatic weapon, tiny bursts of flame stitching themselves along the underbelly of the beast. This was followed by a muffled roar, the brute screaming in pain as it was struck by a more powerful blast.

  They kept climbing until they were just below the top, above the treetops with a clear line of fire in all directions. Looking northward, Coldmoon could see the beast attacking a building, beating its huge wings against it, circling up and dashing itself once more against the structure, screaming all the while. Bricks, broken pieces of wood, and glass flew into the air before falling back into a widening cloud o
f dust. It swerved off and, with a hideous screech, resumed its circling rampage.

  “Jesus,” Coldmoon muttered, more to himself than to Pendergast. It looked like that thing had just taken out the upper floor of their hotel.

  The beast began circling toward them again.

  “Get ready!” Pendergast cried, wrapping an arm around a rung of the ladder while he pulled out his 1911. Coldmoon did the same, bracing himself, Browning in one hand. There was a sharp snapping sound as one of the attachments to the steeple ladder broke off with a green puff of oxidation. This was followed by another snap. The ladder began to sway.

  He couldn’t think of that now. He had to focus on the creature.

  It was closing in on the church. Up close it seemed more alien than ever, almost like a projection, with a semitransparent shimmer moving in waves across its dark leathery hide, looking almost like the exoskeleton of an insect.

  Coldmoon took a bead as he tried to control his breathing, his pounding heart. As the monster glided past, not fifteen feet from them, he fired one round after another, evenly and carefully, aiming at the creature’s center of mass. He could hear, directly above him, Pendergast’s measured firing as the agent emptied his mag.

  The beast was hit. It twisted in midair, emitting a dreadful screech at the upper frequency of audibility, like talons on a blackboard—and came back around, flying straight at them.

  “Down!” Pendergast cried.

  Coldmoon needed no encouragement. He holstered his Browning and half climbed, half slid down the rungs, the creature closing in. With a judder of metal, the rotten ladder snapped free from a row of fastenings and swung out into space. Coldmoon lost his footing, grabbing desperately at a rung with only his hands as he dangled in limbo, swaying a hundred feet above the ground, bodies and cars below like so many tiny toys…but then it swung back, picking up momentum, and Coldmoon managed to get his feet back on the bottom rung as the ladder slammed against the steep roof. He jumped desperately for the narrow balcony below and fell heavily onto it. It swung wildly away once again with Pendergast still clinging to it. Grasping the parapet, Coldmoon reached out and pulled the senior agent onto the walkway. The two dove into the carillon nest just as the ladder peeled away entirely—and the creature struck the steeple.