The book was said to have been in the hands of many cults before theirs. Supposedly discovered in the mists of the sea, it gave explicit instructions on bringing back the Old Ones, especially their emissary Cthulhu. He would pave the way for the rest of them, to reform the world and give the planet back to them, the rightful rulers of the universe. It was they who came out of the sky when the world was young, before there were men.
Among other things, the scripture taught those in the faith magical rites for gaining personal power, vanquishing enemies, and stopping anyone from getting in the way of bringing back the Old Ones. There were many ways of destroying available to the faithful, all diagramed with great detail and fervor.
At the foot of the pedestal sat an onyx altar. More strange symbols trimmed it in what appeared to be gold. On the altar lay Casey Archer, naked except for a tattered loincloth. Her body glistened with scented oils, and her face was decorated with ink forming more archaic symbols. She slept in a supernatural-induced sleep, unaware of those around her, unable to do anything but dream terrible dreams of fire and dark clouds, plagues, and serpents. Many arms flailed about her, stroking her mind as she dreamt, preparing her for a new destiny. Her eyelids fluttered but she slept deeply, even as her body grew gooseflesh in the icy air.
“We should do it now,” the man said.
“Now is not the time.”
“To hell with waiting. We are wasting time. There won’t be a planet left if we don’t—”
“Fool!” the woman cut him off. “Do you want us all to be obliterated? Stand down. We can do nothing until our leader brings us the girl’s father.”
Chapter Four
Island in the Middle of the Pacific
Old Ones. It was a blip in Blount’s thoughts, and it popped into his mind upon stepping onto the island. He held tight to his pistol and beckoned for the others to follow him.
Simon Baxter led his tactical team off first. Weapons drawn, they cleared the way for the rest of the Blount’s special team—the doctor, geologist, and theologian.
The twins stepped out last. One took the other’s hand automatically. “Death is with us,” they said in unison. “Death is all around us. It is here. It is upon us.”
“Everyone stay sharp,” Blount said as they walked on, the ground feeling soft and malleable under foot. There was a stench in the air, and, for a fleeting moment, Blount thought he recognized it. He spoke into his ear mic and told the pilot to shut the chopper down and sit tight.
“If this is a tropical island, why am I cold?” Baxter said.
Blount looked up at him. “We can’t trust anything. Not with our eyes or ears. The island may not obey the natural laws as we know them.”
“Well, that’s just great. How the hell is my team supposed to fight something like that?”
Blount did his best to contain his temper. He inhaled then exhaled before getting closer to the man. “Let’s get one thing straight. This is my team. All of you are my team.”
He glanced around at all them. Private Amanda Fletcher looked more frightened than anyone on the team. Geologist Nick Larson paid no attention, for he was in awe of the foliage around him. All others had their attention fixed on him.
“Baxter, you were recommended to me. You were not my first choice, but I was told you were one of the best and didn’t mess around. Was I wrong to have you head up my security team?”
Baxter grit his teeth. Blount could tell the guy wanted to slug him. “No, sir.”
“Just keep it tight. No room for heroes. No second guesses. Be ready for anything.”
The team resumed walking and the two men put a bit of space between them. A shade of gray coated the sky, while a small breeze picked up. Behind the rolling clouds, a bright light glowed.
Flurries fell softly around them. Amanda stuck out her tongue to taste the snow. It melted as soon as it hit the ground or their bodies. Unmoved by this event, the team pushed on.
They made their way through thick, overgrown plants and foliage. Rocks jutted from the ground like carnivorous teeth. The trees in the distance were huge and towering, masking a structure ahead of them. There was something massive there, but it would not yet reveal itself to them. Curtains of vines hung in their way, and they resorted to cutting through with knives and machetes.
An electric charge surged in the air. Blount looked up and saw black clouds swallowing up the gray. He didn’t like the looks of it.
The twins screamed and went down, taking their heads in their hands. “Pain!” they cried. “I-I-It is trying to d-destroy us. Oh…it rips and tears, it burns and devours. W-w-we...a-a-are losing-g-g...”
Blount rushed to their sides. Bending, he checked their faces and noticed blood trickling from their noses. “Fight…fight it!”
He watched as they shrieked and wailed. Their bodies twitched as their eyes rolled back in their heads, whites flashing briefly.
Baxter froze and aimed his gun at the surrounding jungle. Their perimeter was nothing but thick trees and vines. Amanda got beside him and mimicked him, even though no one knew what to aim at.
Thunder bellowed inside the clouds and the ground shook. The grunts shuffled a bit but stood their ground, appearing a little disheveled. A gust of wind howled and a snowstorm whipped onto the island. Icy winds lashed them as a near whiteout dumped inches of snow.
“The hell?” Baxter said, as he held out his hand in disbelief and caught the white powder. “It can’t snow! This is a goddamned tropical island! Somebody wake me the hell up.”
“Calm down,” Blount called. “Stay together.” He felt angst in them, and didn’t want them to cut and run into different directions. Anything was possible at this moment.
A scream cut above the howling winds, as something came out of the snow and ripped one of the soldiers limb from limb. Scarlet ran through the white and christened the snow blanketing the ground.
Shots went off. A chaotic scene unfolded as something slithered through the snow. They were huge, white, scaled and attacked randomly. Soldiers shot in different directions and chased something that moved fast, striking without warning.
One leapt out at Baxter, catching him off guard. Blount slid himself beneath this monster. He landed on his back and shot upwards, striking the giant snake in the underbelly. It bled black pus, as he shoved his pistol underneath its jaws and blew its head off.
“Thanks,” Baxter yelled as more snakes slithered up behind Blount. The men turned and opened fire as ear-piercing screeches rose above the icy winds.
Feral, azure eyes glinted in the snow as the white serpents advanced on them. M4 rifles blazed, cutting the beasts down while the skies rained white, black, and crimson.
It only brought more. Snakes coiled everywhere, surrounding them, fangs dripping with venom. Savage grins curled as they hissed and shrieked. One soldier attempted to run, but was quickly snatched up in powerful jaws, his legs torn from his body.
“Looks like this is going to be one short investigation,” Blount said, as he braced for the unavoidable. He tapped his headset mike. “Lift off and evac…” Nothing happened. All radio contact was gone. “Awwww hell.” I’ll just have to remember this in my next life. If there is one this time, Blount… The world is in it bad this time.
“No!” the twins screamed, as a kaleidoscope of colored energy burst from their bodies.
The snakes were obliterated, and the raging snowstorm ceased instantaneously. The dark clouds evaporated as if never there. The entire team was knocked off its feet and sent reeling. They looked up with astonished expressions on their faces.
The island became hot and humid. The snow melted quickly and the ground dried.
Blount laughed out loud, a hearty belly laugh, as he got to his feet. A hell of a headache pounded him like a sledgehammer. “I knew you could do it!” he called to the twins.
Everyone else remained mute, visibly shaken by the ordeal. This was not something they had trained for.
“You should…” one twin
began.
“…know us by now,” the other finished.
“…that may be a…”
“…one time deal.”
“What about the island?” Blount asked. “Or who sent the dandy little snowfall our way?”
“We are still being blocked,” they answered together. “It is too powerful for us to penetrate, and most likely knows our every move. We are trying to construct a wall against it invading our thoughts. It’s taking all of our strength.” They stumbled as they tried to gain their footing.
“Maya, Nina, are you alright?” Blount went to them, letting them lean on his broad shoulders and strong back.
“We will recover.”
The soldiers rubbed their heads and shook the cobwebs out, as Doctor Graham Saylors checked them.
“Hey Doc, take a look at the girls for me would ya?” Blount said. “They need a bit more attention then the good ole boys.”
“Of course.” Doctor Saylors hurried over to their side.
“You heard the man,” Baxter yelled at his team. “Stand tall! This won’t be the first fucked up thing we encounter. You are the best of the best. You’ve already seen some heinous crap.” He referred to the shadow creatures and their hosts back at the SUV. “This is just more of it. Get it? Got it? Good!”
Blount conferred with Nick Larson, his team geologist, as the theologian Max Anders looked on and trembled from head to toe.
“What do you make of this place, Nick?”
“It’s an anomaly. I haven’t encountered anything like it in my whole career. There’s plant life here that should be extinct. The air seems OK. I would need some soil samples to get a feel for what else we’re dealing with.”
“How is it even possible?”
“Could be many things: underwater volcanic activity, explosions at the earth’s core, a shift in the planet’s crust or fault lines. Or…”
“Or the return of something very old and very pissed off.”
Blount recalled his conversation with President Wendall.
North Korea is launching. All of us are.
The president’s words played over and over in his head. With all that he’d encountered over his lifetimes, all the monsters, demons, and gods he’d faced, none of it compared to the coldness he felt in his gut as he’d heard nuclear weapons would be used. He just couldn’t predict how long they had left, and he needed to tell the team.
Maya and Nina approached him, and Maya tenderly ran a hand over his cheek.
“The Earth cries out,” Nina said somberly.
“She cries for mercy,” Maya added.
“There was no choice.” Nina traced the tears on his cheeks.
Blount pulled away and stalked off a few feet. “There’s always a choice.”
“Yes…” Nina said.
“But not this time,” Maya finished. “The missiles are on their way.”
Blunt nodded, and knew this was the time.
After regrouping, Blount informed the rest of the Black Rock team about the launches and the impending missiles headed their way. The team took the news quietly and merely nodded. They knew the risks and the dangers. They gathered their thoughts, some prayed to whatever entity they subscribed to, while others merely smoked what might be their last cigarettes.
A short time later, they cut their way through to a path that twisted into many directions and sloped down out of view. Reluctantly, they took it, as Blount felt drawn to it. He started down first. They chose a singular route branching off from the many, where it ascended a small ridge. When they reached the top, they were all struck with awe at the sight that awaited them.
The horizon was filled with approaching missiles. However, as they approached, one by one they fell to the ocean, as if they’d lost power. The blast obliterated the sky in a white explosion of water and debris. The group shielded their eyes as the blast wave rammed over the island. They were thrown to the ground from the force.
Blount opened his eyes a short time later and painfully gained his feet. He stared down at the valley below in awe.
Dark spires sprung out of the ground. Huge and towering, they were made of smooth stone that was covered with odd and disturbing hieroglyphs. Some were formed with grotesque, cold spheres that sat unnaturally, unnerving the onlookers. In the center of this cluster of towers rose a monolithic citadel. Its surface stretched at impossible angles. Its shape was abnormal and frightening, stopping the group cold.
“It waits dreaming…” the twins said ominously. “It waits dreaming, it waits dreaming…”
The team grew more unsettled, and Blount stood in front of them. He soaked in the panorama, realizing that it was really there. It really existed. A part of him didn’t want to believe it. It had only been a legend—a whisper on superstitious lips—but was never really a part of reality. That was just it. This place was real, but not a part of reality as any human being understood it. The city was here, and the Old Ones were real. The evidence was staring him right in the face.
Blount searched the farthest reaches of his memories. His past lives held something that hinted at this place. A city, a city not fully raised, still working its way into the human world. Yes, the memory was there, buried, difficult to recall, or perhaps the recollection of that past life was just being blocked by whatever waited for them in the city. Bits and pieces of it came to him now, a ripple in the pool of his mind.
He saw himself standing in the dark halls of this city, perhaps millions of years ago, with the smell of rot in his nostrils, the taste of blood in his mouth. Half naked, his face painted and weapon in hand, he led an army into the city to destroy it and them once and for all. The sun sank into black just as they raged into oblivion…
“What the hell is that?” Baxter brought Blount out of his flashback and pointed at the black clouds that circled above the towers and citadel.
A flash of lightening streaked from the clouds as Blount looked up and saw shadowy, black forms emerge from the towers. Huge shadow birds flocked around the spires and encircled them. Moments later, they set sight on the team and screeched, racing towards them.
“Here they come!” Blount yelled, aiming his pistol as the soldiers behind him readied their M4s.
The twins joined hands once again. A translucent green bubble sheltered the team, and the creatures bounced off the girls’ newly formed psychic shield. The sound of crushing bones pealed through the air. The shadow birds yelped as the flock crashed, and then they scattered across the skies.
Speechless, Blount turned to the twins, who were on the verge of passing out. He wasn’t sure how long they could keep up their inner war with the sleeping Old One before it killed them both.
Chapter Five
Outlook, Montana
Palmer led them down a winding stairway illuminated by blinking, domed lights nestled high above. Hollow, dripping sounds filled their ears as they reached a metal blast door at the end of the stairs. Archer hoped they could trust this Palmer character. With all that was going on, anything was possible. He watched as the agent inserted a gold key card. There was a clank of metal, a whir as locks disengaged, and then a scuffing as the door slowly eased open. The hum of computer equipment met them, and a tall bearded man waited on the other side.
“Eli,” the man said. “I’m glad you made it back safely. Bring them all in. Quickly.”
Palmer ushered Secretary Carling, Archer, and Sam into the shelter and into a deceptively wide room with a high ceiling. Computers and radar equipment filled the room. The ceiling beams hung with nests of wires and cables.
Fluorescent lights glowed all over the room, creating a freakishly near-sterile environment. A multitude of doors—some open, some closed—networked in every direction, leading into hallways that traveled off in different directions.
Archer spied a pantry and kitchen area off to his left at the nexus of one of the hallways. It appeared stocked with canned and dried foods and bottles of water. Standard protocol. He’d been in similar bunkers—o
ne of them just below the White House.
Men and women hustled back and forth, still doing their jobs despite the insanity that had rocked the world. Some were seated in front of computers, while others were shuffling paperwork back and forth. They barely looked up at the group as they walked to the center of the room. A large plasma screen dominated the far wall. Blue lines traveled from Russia, Korea, China, Iran, and many other countries, terminating at multiple red dots on the world map. Archer sucked in a breath as he recognized what he was seeing.
“This way.” The tall bearded man directed them to an open door in the hallway in front of them. “We need to get you all caught up to speed. We’ll debrief you as fast as we can.”
They followed him into a large conference room, while Palmer departed into the crowds of other agents and workers. “I’ll be with you all shortly.”
After they’d filed in, the tall man closed the door behind them and asked them to sit around the table. “I’m Dan Waters. I’m commander of our little survivor base. We’ve a good handle on what the hell is going on here.”
They stared up at the world map, stuck with dozens of red pins, on the wall behind Waters. There was a radio system in the corner, a chalkboard to the right. A file cabinet system occupied another wall, and scattered around were globes, flashlights, blueprints, and some stones.
Onyx and crystal, Archer thought.
The chalkboard held scribbled brainstorming: groups of names, locations, and times. There were a couple of strange symbols drawn there, too. Archer thought they looked familiar, as he soaked everything in.
“Secretary, I’m sure this won’t come as a big surprise to you. But for the rest of you, you’re about to become privy to information the general public knows nothing of. It doesn’t exist. This information is code: Majestic.”
If God Doesn't Show Page 11
