It sucked the life out of him.
The creature flexed its feet and was suddenly facing her. It hopped forward like a tin soldier that had been picked up and moved, its arms outstretched, its dead gaze unseeing.
She emptied her weapon, five more .45 caliber rounds, hitting it in the throat and again through the bridge of its nose. Tatters of skin and cartilage flew and she saw the goddamn holes open up in its body yet it hopped again, and a third time, and impossibly, it was right in front of her. She could smell the dead man rotting and the fresh wounds were sticky with clotted blood, almost black against the white-green skin. She could smell the heat of the rounds she’d fired, wisps of seared, decaying flesh. It stared past her with no expression, not seeing her, its jaw slack with death. It was a void.
Underwood screamed. She felt it pulling at her, drawing her life away, and she couldn’t move, trapped by whatever it was doing.
–eating me… it’s eating my life–
She could feel her body dying, the tendons and muscles tightening, shrinking, the breath being pulled from her lungs, the will to draw another one falling away.
Stitch, she thought, and was gone.
The sarge stood up and looked at Cakes. The dame in the corner was shook, all curled up in bloody whites.
“I may have seen a hopping dead man,” West said.
“No shit?”
The sarge shook his head. “I saw something.” He picked up a blanket and covered the nurse.
Cakes’ hand tightened on his weapon. The gooks were trash people, it made sense that they’d have some creepy crawlies they could hoodoo up. That stuff was for real, he knew it was, there were dark places and devils in the world. The hills of Kentucky were full of ‘em, why not a godless country like Korea? Outside, there was shouting. He heard what sounded like the blast of a .45, then another and then five more. Someone had emptied their pistol.
Two MPs charged in with their weapons drawn, barking questions. Before anyone could explain anything, the nurse with the big titties burst in and saw the dead geezers and got real upset, crying and talking about how they looked old but they weren’t, something had happened to ‘em.
“The kid, where’s that kid?” Sergeant West asked. He started back to the room with all the gook patients and one of the MPs yelled at him to stop, he needed to answer some questions. The MP had jug ears and buck teeth and a peeling sunburn on his chunky nose. He looked like he’d fallen off an ugly tree and hit every branch going down. He looked like someone’s butt.
The sarge turned around and laid it out fast. “You’ve been infiltrated, you understand? Report to your CO ASAP and tell him to push the panic button, now. Where’s your armory?”
Armory. Cakes felt something inside of him light up while Buttface stuttered out directions. He surely did love to prang a motherfucker, and how! Maybe the slant demons blew up or caught on fire or something.
Nurse Bazooms was helping the shook girl and the MPs finally clued in that something was happening outside – a man let out a yelp like he’d seen death coming, another weapon discharged, twice, then once more. People ran past the hole in the wall, going either way. Cakes could feel himself heating up, a strong, positive feeling that made his muscles twitch and his dick go half-mast. Korea was a dump and he hated Army life but clobbering gooks, that was good times.
Back in post-op it appeared that the doctors and nurses had run off. Half of the gooks were gone, too. The ones too sick to skedaddle were jabbering away at each other in their squawking, whining language. Burtoni and McKay were flanking Young, both armed and alert, watching the doors. McKay was a broke-dick dog, less fight than a Frenchman, but Burtoni was all right.
The sarge spotted the kimchi brat and called him over. He met them at Young’s cot. Young was passed out again and sawing logs.
“What happened?” Burtoni asked. “We heard shots—”
“No time,” West said. “I don’t know what’s going on but I want us armed. Me and Cakes are going to the armory, or at least to get our rifles. I want you and McKay to stay here with Young. Lee, you tell these men everything you know about the gangshi.”
The kid’s eyes widened, as much as they could. “The old story? Is it true?”
The sarge shook his head. “I don’t know. Could be.”
One of the gooks hong-yong-songed to the kid.
“He says to tell you we heard the bells,” the kid said.
“Hey, I heard a bell,” Burtoni said, looking all serious, and McKay nodded. “Right before the screamin’. Like two, maybe three times.”
Cakes hadn’t heard shit, but he didn’t hear so good anymore, not since the last time he’d pulled combat time. Goddamn mortars.
“They ring the bell to let the people know it is time, to keep inside,” the kid said.
“Who does?” the sarge asked, reloading. He carried an old Victory Model 10, a .38 revolver from WWII. “These priests?”
The kid nodded.
“So if we stay inside, we’re safe?” Burtoni asked.
“I – don’t know,” the kid said. “My family did not believe these things.”
“Ask around,” West said, snapping the cylinder home. “If anyone shows up to evac the patients, bug out with them. If we’re not back and the situation gets worse—”
He didn’t get to finish. The doors flew open and two enlisted guys ran in, their eyes wild. One of them, a corporal, had wet his pants. They scrambled to pull the doors closed, shouting out useful information.
“There’s something out there!” The one guy yelled. “It killed Major Underwood, I saw it!”
“There’s more than one!” Yelled Pee Boy. His eyes rolled in his fool head. “They’re everywhere! Bullets don’t stop ‘em!”
We’ll just see about that. Cakes had yet to meet anything that could survive a .45 to the face, and it just so happened he was a crack fucking shot. He led the way to the door, pushed past the two fumbling ladies. He held up his M1911, still fully loaded. He had one more loaded box magazine in his right leg side pocket. A total of fourteen rounds.
He looked to the sarge. West was nodding at him, holding up his revolver. The ugly MP had said southeast. Opposite corner of the camp, back by where they’d come in.
“At least you didn’t shit ‘em,” Cakes said to the corporal, and pushed open the door, ready for anything.
Burtoni watched Cakes and the Sarge run out and swallowed, felt a dry click in his throat. He didn’t like this one tiny skosh. Liked it less when he heard more weapons firing and somebody yelling for help. He thought he heard Cakes’ voice and then bam-bam-bam, close enough to make his ears ring. There were maybe ten ROKs still in the tent, three of them out cold, the rest getting more and more clanked up. What the fuck was happening?
Young was still sacked out, his eyes barely fluttering when the building had shook. Except for a tiny smile when they’d first arrived, he’d stayed unconscious.
“Ask one of ‘em if we’re safe in here,” McKay said to the kid, Lee.
Lee raised his voice and talked over the other Koreans. Burtoni had thought he was still a little kid but he acted older than he looked, repeating himself loudly until they heard him. Sounded like ooh-dee in-yo gi on da-naga.