Wormwood Dawn (Episode V) (12 page)

Her anger built, stacking more and more hatred onto the heap, and releasing more and more adrenaline into her blood. It pushed her harder and harder until she felt the hot flood of blood on her knuckles and the pain of rage in her chest.

She loved it.

She would have her reign back, she swore. She would kill Dan and Drew as an example to the others. They would respect and fear her once more, and her rules would be enforced with the threat of death. Even Lena’s demon child—that little pussy—wasn’t safe from her wrath. Maybe she would kill him, too, just to fuck with that bitch’s head.

Maybe she would let Mami chew the kid’s face off and eat it right in front of his mother. That would show her—and the others.

She stopped banging her fists and stepped back, grinning like The Joker as she pictured Mami licking the blood off of Toby’s skinless face. She felt the euphoric building of joy in her gut, and the choking laughter of a madman escaped from her lips.

She would have her revenge.

Dan stared in shock as the giant cocoon slowly ripped open. Slime poured out, hanging like massive runs of snot descending from a giant nostril. He could hear Eric gasp in fear, and saw him back away out of the corner of his eye. He felt the urge to flee—which he could probably do…

…if only the door wasn’t blocked with the writhing bodies of the dead.

“Eric,” he whispered. “This is going to take both of us.”

Eric didn’t answer, but Dan heard the clicking sound of Eric’s massive fist squeezing the barrel shroud of his rifle.

As Dan watched the slime descend to the floor, he pictured the Robert creature in his head. He imagined that this is what it looked like when the horrifying mutated serial killer finally emerged from the cocoon in his storeroom. He imagined the maniacal laughter that would follow once Robert realized what he was then.

Then, he pictured Vincent’s head rolling past him in the dim light of the moon. He saw Vincent’s eyes fading away. Finally, he heard the deep, demonic laughter that followed. Then the appearance of Vincent’s killer as it rose, pale as death, from the glowing mist.

Then, he heard the familiar jingle bell sound echoing in his ears; that satanic sleigh of death that accompanied the frightening creatures.

“Fuck you,” he whispered, raising his rifle and letting loose.

Blood and slime splattered from the bullet holes as the veiny white flesh was ruptured. Eric let loose as well, as the spray of foul liquid splattered them both. An unearthly howl erupted from the cocoon as its occupant was torn apart, and the cocoon finally ripped open fully. Its contents fell to the floor in a screaming mass of rage and flailing limbs.

Dan and Eric both stared, slack-jawed, as the pale, slimy thing writhed on the floor. It was a mass of limbs and tentacles, whirling and scrambling rapidly as it tried to stand. There was something odd about it, Dan saw; something that didn’t seem quite right. There were too many arms, too many legs, too many…

…faces!

“Jesus Christ,” Eric growled. “It’s two of them, stuck together.”

Eric was right. As the creature rose, Dan saw that it was indeed a stalker; two of them melded together like conjoined twins from hell. They were melded back to back, but the rear creature’s head was twisted around to the front, fighting for dominance with the other head. The two macabre, fanged maws snapped repeatedly, and four clawed arms reached toward them.

“Kill it!” Dan shouted.

The two men parted, releasing a spray of bullets from each of their rifles. Dan emptied his, ducking behind a pew and dropping the empty mag on the floor. Before he could slap in another, the creature howled a deafening cry, and the pews in front of Dan were uprooted and flung to the doors, where they crashed and splintered.

Dan jumped up, pulling back the charging handle, and let loose again just as the creature pounced toward him. He was sprayed with slime as he ducked out of the way, and the creature’s claws swiped at thin air before it landed with a splattering impact that shook the floor.

“Into the back!”
Dan shouted, sprinting toward the doors behind the pulpit.

Eric crashed through the vertical paneled door without any effort at all. It shattered with his weight, splintering into a million nicely-stained pieces. Dan followed him, turning to fire more rounds into the creature as it recovered.

“What the hell is that thing?” Eric asked, horrified.

Dan checked his ammo supply. He was low, and he had dropped one of his mags on the floor of the chapel.

“No fucking clue, man,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Eric paced in terror as he sought out a route for them to go. Dan spied another door on the other side of the room, open and leading into the darkness. He pictured the church basement in Oolitic.

“Fuck man,” he said as the creature crashed through the shattered doors. “The last time I was in a church basement…”

The creature howled in rage, prompting the two men to sprint at the opposite door. It was their only chance. It was their only—

It was a closet.

“Fuck!”
Dan shouted.

The creature squeezed its way down the short hallway, struggling to get through as it bulk became wedged. Dan looked around for another route. The one window that was to his right was small, but at waist level. He ran toward it, ready to bust it out with the butt of his rifle, but the way was blocked. Dozens of shufflers were outside, crowding the window. Among them he saw a shambler, and behind the small horde, two more of the pale white ghoulish things.

“Damn it,” he whispered.

“This way,” Eric said, waving to Dan.

The big man had found a stairway leading up, situated in the corner behind a row of cabinets. Dan followed him, keeping his eye on the hellish mutant as it finally burst into the room. Before they could disappear up the stairs, the creature roared in fury, both of its dripping maws spewing the sounds of tortured demons.

“Go, go, go!” Dan urged him on; desperate to get as much space between him and the beast as possible.

They charged upward through the dark stairwell, turning a corner at the top and vaulting another set of stairs. Below, the creature’s crashing footfalls shook the church, knocking sconces and small crosses from the walls.

When they reached the top, there was a heavy wooden door blocking their way. Eric slammed his shoulder against it, jarring it, but it stayed in place. Dan reached for the knob, finding it unlocked, and pushed it open. The steps shook as the creature gained ground on them.

Eric slammed the door shut behind them, pressing his weight against it.
“Find something to keep it shut!”
he shouted.

Dan shouldered his weapon, scrambling to drag a heavy chest of drawers across the wooden floor. He strained with all his might, grunting with the effort, and the chest slid loudly across the hardwood. Eric was jolted as the creature slammed against the door, and he barely moved out of the way as Dan slid the chest against it. The two of them pushed it tight against the door, stepping back breathless as the angry barrage continued.

“What the hell do we do now?” Eric gasped, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

Dan, breathless as well, shook his head. “Find another way out,” he said. “Somewhere onto the roof maybe. We could get down and set the church on fire.”

Eric scoffed. “With what?” he asked. “I don’t have a lighter. Do you?”

Fuck,
Dan thought, searching his pockets. He had one before, he remembered. He must have dropped it. It wouldn’t have done any good anyway, he realized. They had no fuel to dowse the floors and walls with.

“Shit,” he said, looking around.

There was a stainless steel conduit running down the wall and into the floor. It looked like a propane line. He followed the other end of the line with his eyes, seeing it disappear into a wall-mounted ventless heater.

“Here we go,” Dan said. “If there’s any gas left in the propane tank outside, we got a fire.”

“Will that be enough?” Eric asked. “These lines only carry about fifteen pounds of pressure.”

“We might not need it.”

He ran to the ventless heater, grasping the propane line tightly. “Help me pull it loose,” he said. “We’ll fill the room with gas and ignite it with a ricochet spark or something.”

“Wait,” Eric said, pulling out his knife. “The tube on the inside is plastic.”

The creature continued slamming against the door, cracking the wood and jolting the chest of drawers. Dan watched with wide eyes, hoping Eric could cut through the coiled steel in enough time. But he realized, even if he could, there was still no way to ignite the gas for sure. There was no guarantee either one of them could manage a ricochet perfect enough to spark. He wasn’t even sure lead
would
spark.

When he heard the thick hiss of gas, and smelled the funky additive, he glanced at Eric again. “Now what?” he asked.

Eric backed away, holding his rifle at the door. “I don’t know,” he said. “But when that thing busts through, I’m unloading the rest of my magazine into its face.”

Good Idea,
Dan thought. It might be their last move, but hey, whatever.

“It was nice to meet you, Eric,” Dan said, half-heartedly.

“Yeah,” Eric laughed. “My dad’s gonna be pissed. Drew’s fucked.”

Dan grinned as they backed away. He glanced behind him, seeing one smaller window that opened up onto the roof. They could climb through it; even Eric could fit. Then, they could ignite the gas somehow and wait for the imminent boom. Maybe.

He busted out the glass just as the wooden door and chest of drawers exploded into the room. “Follow me,” he said.

Eric moved toward him, looking like he was going to fulfill his promise to empty his last rounds into the creature. He decided against it. Dan stepped out onto the roof, steadying himself so as not to slide down the steep peak. Eric stepped out behind him, slipping, and dropping his rifle. The weapon slid down to the gutter, and Eric barely caught himself on the window sill.

Inside the creature hissed and howled, charging across the room, dragging its conjoined twin along with it. Dan took one last look at its horrifying face, raising his rifle to fire one last shot. He took aim at the heater unit, hoping and praying to himself that his bullet would cause a spark. Just as the beast was passing the heater, Dan fired and ducked out of the way, hanging onto the window sill right next to Eric.

He heard an explosion, and felt the heatwave on his hands. The creature howled in rage, and Dan could hear it thrashing and flailing. He lifted himself up enough to gaze into the open window. There, inside the large room, the creature spun and rolled, completely engulfed in flames. The severed end of the propane line flapped around with a jet of flame shooting out, igniting every dry wooden surface it touched.

The creature howled and screeched as its body was consumed. Its demonic faces turned themselves toward the window, the fanged maws gaping like black holes of razor sharp death. It stumbled forward, reaching out with its claws in a fruitless effort to slice the two men to ribbons. Then, it fell to its knees—all four of them—each half of its mutated body trying to flee in a different direction.

Dan unshouldered his rifle, using the window sill for support as he held on with one hand. The creature pulled itself forward with its claws as the flames spread to the wooden floor boards. Dan zeroed in on the closest head, seeing the devilish eyes trained upon him in fury. He clenched his jaw, hoping the round would be enough to stop any further advance.

He fired.

The creature’s forehead split open, spraying black fluid and vile innards on the floor ahead of it. That half of its body slumped down, limp and lifeless. The remaining half continued to claw its way toward him, glaring with demonic hatred with those hellish eyes, and snapping its huge maw. Dan aimed again as the world wound down to a crawl around him. The flames that engulfed the creature burned in slow motion; every lick of flame taking on a life of its own.

He fired again.

The remaining head exploded in a cloud of slime and chunks of flesh that splattered the walls, and sizzled as it hit the flames. The creature pitched forward, its clawed arms falling limp, and the shattered remains of its heads splintering with the heat of the fires. It quivered and trembled for a moment before finally falling still.

“Got ‘im,” Dan said, shouldering his rifle again.

“Alright,” Eric said. “Now what?”

“Let’s get out of here before this church collapses.”

Dan let go of the window sill, using his heels to slow his descent as he slid down the peak of the roof to the gutter. Eric followed, and the two of them looked down at the ground below. It was about a twenty foot drop, surely an ankle breaker. But that wasn’t the worst part. Dozens of shufflers still mobbed the outside, and there were a few shamblers among them. Though the shufflers were unaware of their position, the shamblers glared up at them with their burning red eyes. They swiped their claws upward, and gnashed their teeth in hunger.

The ghoulish things were nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, the windows on the first floor exploded outward, knocking away all of the mutants and setting them aflame. Those that still stood flailed and scrambled to extinguish the flames, leaving an empty space directly below Dan and Eric’s position. Behind them, another crash sounded, telling them that the upper floor had collapsed.

The rest would follow soon.

“I meant what I said earlier,” Dan said. “It
was
good to meet you.”

Eric smiled. “Then let’s get the hell out of here and have a beer.”