by Seth Patrick
He crouched beside the woman. She had no pulse.
He shone the flashlight beam inside the door. It looked like an observation area, large windows opening onto what must be the focus of the circular arena. The windows were dark but the observation area had dim emergency lighting. There were simple metal benches on two levels, enough for a few dozen to watch what was happening inside, and the benches had been full. Now, though, the observers were on the floor, haphazard and still, just like the one across the doorway.
He entered carefully, the acid stench enough to make him gag.
An arm of one of the black-clothed figures on the floor moved, slowly, back and forth. Jonah readied the gun, but what could he do? He had no doubt what Sly would say, but there were no shadows here that he could see, not any more. These people were all either dead or badly injured. He watched as the arm gradually stopped.
Whatever catastrophic failure had been caused by the blowing of the power hub and interrupting the function of their machine, it hadn’t just been Andreas to suffer. Every shadow – here, at least – had been caught in the aftermath of the uncontrolled surge Tess had felt. Caught and destroyed . . . the hosts, as all these people must have been, dead or injured as a result.
Then he heard the same sounds of scrabbling movement he’d been hearing from below. He went to the observation window. The emergency lighting within was weak, but it was enough to see by.
Jonah stared at what Andreas had become.
The glass seemed thick. He was glad.
The Great Shadow, Jonah thought. He felt cold, watching it: seeing the sheer power on display, even given its ravaged state.
The ruin of a stillborn god filled the chamber; smoke hung in the air within, but he could make out dark, wet flesh partly covering obsidian bone, amputated stumps flailing now, lashing out against the wall or floor then becoming still again.
Jonah tried to make sense of it, of its anatomy. It was centred on a shape at the heart of the circle. Wanting to see – needing to see – he brought up the flashlight and shone it inside. It was hard to make out in the black smoke, but there was enough for Jonah to see a suggestion of wing, and a distorted mass in place of a head. Pieces of it emanated from there, but in a chaotic form, as if it had erupted from inside, uncontrolled, unready. Unfinished.
Something raw and claw-like thudded hard against the other side of the glass, leaving a dark smear. He quickly stepped back.
Then a voice from behind him made him spin round. ‘My God . . .’ said Tess, staring at it.
‘Nobody’s god,’ said Jonah. ‘Not now.’
She came to stand beside him, then approached the glass. ‘Look at it. It can’t have been far from succeeding.’
‘I wouldn’t get so close,’ said Jonah. The ragged claw hit the glass again, harder this time, leaving a small, visible crack.
Tess moved away. She ran her eyes over the bodies on the floor. ‘Do you think all Andreas’s people are like this?’
‘We saw others standing outside in a circle.’ He nodded towards a secure door at the far side of the observation room, which he guessed led to the corridor where the rest of the acolytes had been standing. ‘I think if they weren’t dead or incapacitated, they’d be in here by now.’ There was every chance that distance could make all the difference, he knew – that if there were others in the facility, further from the arena, they could have survived. He’d been lucky so far, but whatever he was going to do, he had to do it soon.
And for that, he needed a way inside the chamber. As well as the door they’d entered by, and the one he thought led to the corridor, there was a third. He went across and opened it, the acrid stench stronger in the more confined space: the control room, half the size of the observation area, eight bodies on the floor. Panel indicator lights showed there was some power. Here, too, there was a large viewing window into the chamber, but there was also an entryway. The lock panel showed a single red light.
Tess joined him. ‘What can you do?’ she said, anxious. She nodded to the chamber. ‘Against that?’
He reached down to his weapon harness, and took out the trigger and the single charge he had left. He paired them and held up the charge. ‘These pack a punch,’ he said, whispering in case the sound from the room could reach the chamber. ‘Maybe enough to kill the damn thing. Up close. All I’d have to do is get inside, get clear and press the button.’
Tess turned to the chamber, tears in her eyes. ‘Do you think he’s still there?’ Jonah looked blank. ‘Michael,’ she said. ‘Not the creature that took his body. Michael himself. Do you think he’s free of it now, or still trapped inside?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Jonah, lying. He thought there was very little chance of him being free, and he thought Tess felt the same way.
He went to the chamber entry door and tried it, but it wouldn’t open. Quickly he searched the bodies in the room. The last one he checked was the furthest, against the wall, out of sight of the observation window. It had a security card on a thin chain around the neck. Jonah set the charge and trigger on a low desk next to the body to give him a free hand. He looped the chain over the corpse’s head then returned to the door and swiped. The lock went green. Jonah felt cheated, somehow. It should have been harder to get in; it should have taken longer, put this moment off for longer.
He reached for the charge and trigger, but Tess stayed his hand with her own. ‘There has to be another way,’ she said. ‘Look at it. It wouldn’t let you near.’
He looked. Some of the pieces of dark flesh seemed to be dissipating into swirls of steaming black smoke. For a moment he thought it might be in the throes of death, but instead the central bulk seemed to be drawing itself back in, abandoning the extremities to their fate. He could see Tess’s point, though. In what remained, there was strength. There was tooth, and claw.
‘I can get close enough,’ he said, but he knew it would be difficult.
Tess looked at him. ‘Even if you did, you wouldn’t be able to get enough distance from the blast.’
He looked away from her scrutiny. Getting far enough wasn’t a necessity, of course. His plan was to get close to the creature’s malformed head, shove the charge down the damn thing’s throat, if he could, and trigger it at once. ‘I have options,’ he said, picking up the charge. ‘I can stick it to any surface.’ He peeled the backing from the adhesive. ‘If I have to, I’ll throw it.’ He was lying, of course; he knew he had to make sure of doing the maximum damage. Point blank was the only way. Any less could mean a wasted chance.
He set the charge back down carefully and put his hands on her shoulders. ‘There’s a woman on the floor below us,’ he said. ‘Her name’s Sly. She’s injured, but she’ll get you out of here. Whatever happens.’
Tess moved forward and embraced him. ‘There has to be another way,’ she said again, but they both knew there wasn’t. They separated. Jonah smiled at her, tears in his eyes. And then the creature spoke.
64
‘Jonah . . .’ it said.
Jonah could see no detail in the dark bulk in the middle of the chamber, but he knew that was the source of the voice. He looked at Tess.
‘What?’ she said.
‘Didn’t you hear it?’
Tess shook her head. The voice was only for him. Through the observation window he saw the dark shape moving, shifting, half hidden in the smoke that persisted from the dissolution of the rest of it. He had a sense of it being crouched, waiting. Ready for him, and angry.
‘You did this to me?’ it said. ‘I’m impressed. I’ll show you just how much, when I finally take you. Last, of course. You’ll watch the world burn before I let you die.’
‘Look at you,’ Jonah said, his voice raised. ‘So this is what a dead god looks like.’
‘You catch me at a bad time,’ it replied, and laughed, like clattering bones. ‘But not for long. The door is open now, Jonah. It will not shut. The power flows slower now, but it still flows. And I’m patient. Don’t doubt me
. Don’t doubt that you’ll watch all your friends perish, one by one.’
‘You think so, dead god?’ said Jonah. ‘Look at yourself.’
It laughed its dry-bone laugh again. ‘Come, Jonah. Come inside and show me how weak I am.’ Something unfurled from the darkness, a long dark arm, and at the tip a powerful hand that made Jonah think of teeth as much as claw.
The creature was right, Jonah knew. With it disoriented and flailing he’d stood a chance. Now? He’d be powerless the moment he stepped through the door. He and Tess looked at each other. He shook his head, frustrated and despairing.
Tess turned to the window again. ‘Michael . . .’ she said.
Jonah felt the creature smile. He heard a long, satisfied sigh in his mind. ‘Ah . . . Tess! She’s still alive! And I can still USE her. You should kill her, Jonah. If only you weren’t so weak.’
From inside the chamber, the dark shape physically spoke, a tortured cry. The look on Tess’s face was one of utter horror.
‘Tess,’ said the creature aloud. ‘Help me, Tess. Please.’
She put her hand to the glass. ‘Michael?’
‘It’s weak . . . it’s dying . . . I’ve pulled free of it! Help me!’
Jonah put his hand on her shoulder. ‘It’s lying to you.’ There was doubt in her face, though.
‘I can feel that it’s dying,’ said the creature. ‘It’s going back to the void. I need you, Tess. I need your help or it’ll take me with it. Your presence is the only thing that can help me.’
She looked at Jonah, torn; then she looked at the creature. ‘What can I do?’
‘So easy!’ said the creature to Jonah.
‘It’s lying to you,’ said Jonah. ‘Don’t listen to it!’
The creature wailed, as if in terrible pain. ‘Tess . . . you feel so far away. I need you to be near. I’m so cold. So lost! Come to me!’
Tess cried out, and Jonah heard the voice in his mind again, mocking: ‘Prepare yourself, Jonah. If you want to slow my rise, you’ll have to kill her. If you want to SAVE her, you’ll have to kill her.’
The creature was enjoying this, taunting and goading.
Tess looked at Jonah; he saw something in her expression change, grow somehow cold, determined. She looked back into the chamber. ‘Prove it. Prove you’re Michael.’
There was silence from the creature, then a ripple of movement was visible. The dark shapes began to dissipate, separating, becoming shadow-smoke. Jonah looked hard, wondering if it was his imagination, but no: a human form was becoming clear in the swirl of darkness.
Tess watched, transfixed.
The darkness faded.
Standing in the chamber was Andreas, whole and unblemished, clothed immaculately in suit and leather jacket. Smiling.
‘Such simple lies, Jonah,’ came the voice. ‘People give themselves no choice but to believe. No choice but to hope.’
Jonah knew Andreas was right: he had no choice. No choice but to enter the chamber and walk, calm and slow, hoping Andreas wouldn’t simply finish him before he came close.
He stepped away from the door and walked towards the desk where he’d left the charge and trigger, out of sight of the chamber.
‘Don’t, Jonah.’ It was Tess, behind him.
‘I have to,’ he said.
She was watching Andreas with an expression of curious joy, her eyes wet. ‘Michael,’ she said.
As Jonah turned back to fetch the charge he sensed movement from behind. Something hit his head. He fell, his vision dark for a moment, and then he saw Tess go through the chamber door, taking the security card in her hand, the door locking again behind her.
Jonah ran to the observation window and hit the glass. ‘Tess, please!’ he shouted, trying to break Andreas’s hold over her. On the card reader by the door he saw an intercom switch. He pressed it, the sounds from the chamber coming through clearly now. He spoke again. ‘Tess . . .’
‘Don’t worry, Jonah,’ she said.
‘See how much she loves her Michael?’ said the creature in his mind. ‘She’s mine, now.’ Andreas’s smile turned to a rictus grin, looking directly at Jonah.
Tess walked to the centre of the chamber.
‘Good girl,’ said Andreas as she reached him.
‘Hold me,’ said Tess. ‘Hold me, Michael. I missed you so much. I’m frightened.’
Andreas smiled. ‘Of course. My love.’
He turned to the side and held out his arms, triumphant, making sure Jonah had a clear view as he allowed Tess to embrace him.
She drew close, wrapping her left arm around Andreas, keeping her right arm behind her back. Andreas placed his mouth on hers and they kissed, deep, long. Jonah could see the back of Andreas’s head shift and ripple. The shape was difficult for him to hold, Jonah thought. They separated, and Andreas smiled at her.
‘I dreamed of freeing you, Michael,’ she said, tears falling. ‘From the day it happened. I love you. I always knew I wasn’t worthy of you, but I love you.’ She took a step back, looking him up and down, smiling. ‘And here you are.’
‘Here I am,’ said Andreas. ‘And all the while Michael is inside me,’ it said to Jonah. ‘Struggling. Suffering. She’ll join him when I’m done with her.’
‘I love you, Michael.’ She was still stepping back, six feet, ten feet, twelve, Andreas too busy goading to notice the change in her tone when it came: ‘I love you. I always will. I dreamed of freeing you. If you’re really in there, I hope you can hear me.’
Jonah saw what was in her hand; his eyes went to the desk where he’d set down the trigger and charge. Nothing there now.
At last, the creature realized what she’d said. Its expression changed, the smile vanishing. Jonah could see the charge stuck to its back, just below the collar of the jacket it wore. Lines of mouths were opening across its face once again. It lunged towards Tess as she raised the trigger.
65
Jonah reflexively dived to the floor. He heard shrapnel break through glass and fly past him as he fell. He stayed down for three long breaths before standing again.
The glass in the doorway and in the observation window was shattered but holding steady in the frames. Jonah took a chair from behind him and swung it again and again at the door until the laminate fell away. He climbed through.
The first thing to hit him was the smell, of hot blood and rancid meat underscored by the same acidic odour the shadows had made. The stench was appalling. The dim red light of the chamber seemed even darker than it had been, and he paused – there was a layer of black mist close to the floor, and under the mist a shape was just visible where Andreas had stood. He watched it for a moment, but it was still.
He turned and saw Tess. He ran to her.
She was trying to sit up. Blood was pouring from a shrapnel wound in her side. He clamped his hands over it but the torrent of red couldn’t be stemmed, gushing past his fingers. Tess looked up again, and he saw reluctant acceptance there. They both knew what was about to happen.
‘I had to do it,’ she said. ‘He wouldn’t have let you get close.’
‘You have to hold on,’ he said, crying. ‘We need you, Tess.’
She shook her head, and smiled. ‘No tears,’ she said. Then the smile faded. ‘Do you think . . . do you think Michael heard me?’
‘I know he heard you,’ said Jonah. ‘You didn’t think you were worthy of him, Tess, but you were. You always were.’
He took her right hand. It was already cold. He whispered her name. Her breathing grew rapid and shallow, her eyes unfocused.
‘Jonah,’ she said. Fading, almost inaudible. He leaned close and listened. Six words, the last things she would ever say. The weight of those words settled on him as her breathing grew even more rapid. Then, suddenly, it slowed and stopped.
He closed his eyes against the tears, her cold hand still in his.
Then he heard it behind him.
A choking, wet sound, a movement. He opened his eyes, not wanting to turn, but h
e had to.
The head was the worst. Ripped open and much of it missing, the remainder was somehow managing to cling together, scalp torn from bone. There was an expression of defeat in the sole remaining eye. The right arm was gone, too; the upper torso had been devastated. It was trying to pull itself along using the left arm, rising a little with each attempt.
There seemed little doubt that the creature wasn’t able to simply re-form, that it was in genuine difficulty. Taken by surprise, Jonah thought. It had returned to a human form before it was ready, used too much of what strength it had left in its effort to torment Jonah.
Even so, he could see that it was trying to knit itself back, and while it was failing now, Jonah knew it would succeed eventually. Time was all it required.
Jonah felt drained. He imagined himself condemned to stay in this chamber, repeatedly destroying the flesh of this damned creature. Beating it to a pulp with his bare hands, if that was what was needed. He began to stand.
Then he caught movement from the control room. Through the spider-webbed glass of the observation window he saw a black-dressed figure enter. It came to the doorway, a silhouette, the face misshapen, inhuman. One of Andreas’s acolytes had survived, he thought. It was over.
The figure ducked through the hole and stood tall. It looked first at Jonah, and then turned to the shape that was pulling itself along, desperate to survive.
It was only when the figure spoke that Jonah realized the face was covered in a mask. A gas mask.
‘Let’s finish this,’ said Kendrick. He was a mess, left arm soaked in blood and strapped to his chest.
What was left of Andreas took another wet breath, shifting where it lay. Kendrick stepped over and brought a boot down on the open skull. He took the black cylinder from his belt.
‘Out,’ said Kendrick, and Jonah lifted Tess’s body and carried her through the door. Behind him Kendrick began to deploy the contents of the cylinder. Jonah looked back to see white smoke billowing up, the bulk of Andreas trembling and twitching as the flesh dissolved. He kept watching until the movement stopped.
