Ariki didn’t bother using rounds. The machete was in his hand, covered in steaming black blood. He hacked at the Others as if they were dry, brittle branches, and they fell almost as easily. He whirled and cut another down, stomping on Lurch’s face until the skull crumpled and moist pulp oozed out.
“More on the way. Go!”
They ran, Nathan at point. Gasps punched from his chest as the world became blurs of liquid shadows. He took a quick look back to make sure Elena followed. She was nearly on his back, legs churning and eyes wide. Hayes ran alongside, a manic grin on his face. Ariki lumbered like an angry bear as he brought up the rear. Indistinct shapes followed, hissing and screeching.
When Nathan faced forward, a massive wall blocked the entire view.
It looked like it had existed for ages. Vines had long laid claim to its surface, covering it in creepers and lush, multi-hued leaves. It rose higher than a ten story building and stretched further than the eye could see.
The stream spurted from a metal drain tunnel jutting from the lower portion of the wall. Nathan jogged up to it and peered inside. The interior was tiny, barely enough for a person to crawl into. The surface was completely overlain by moss and mold growth. Slime dripped from the tunnel like drool from an open mouth.
“Looks like our only way out. Has to lead somewhere.” He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut.
Elena joined him, her face mirroring his doubt. “I don’t know. We can only go in there single file. If anything’s inside, the person in front…”
He wiped his forehead and nodded. “Don’t think we have a choice.”
He glanced at Hayes, who stared into space with a glazed expression. Nathan fought the urge to ask Hayes to go in first. In his state of mind, Hayes might jump to do it, but would be useless if anything happened. We might all get jammed up in there. Just the thought of being stuck in such a dark, cramped environment was enough to make him shudder.
“What are you waiting for?” Ariki waved his arms. “Keep moving!”
Tentacles drifted down in almost dreamlike fashion. Thin as translucent wires, they encircled Ariki’s face and seized. His body jerked as the rest of the jellyfish floated into view from the mist, glimmering in electric hues that illuminated the silhouette of the human head inside the gelatinous bell.
Ariki was wrenched by convulsions, his screams muffled as his face was liquefied by the jelly’s stingers. Flabby, misshapen Others sprang from the fog, leaping on him, savaging him with jagged claws and teeth. He fought with desperate ferocity, staggering in the middle of the pale bodies. Muscled arms knotted as his hands and fists snapped bones and tore sinew apart. A single word gurgled from his throat.
“Go!”
Nathan hesitated. His handgun trembled in his hand, trying to find a clean shot. There was none. More monstrous bodies leaped onto Ariki, pulling him into the maw of teeth and claws. The jellyfish entangling him glowed as though fed by his screams. The illumination brightened the bell’s interior, allowing a clear look at the human head inside.
It was Ariki. His face was contorted in a silent shriek even as his body faltered under the pile of monstrous bodies. The sky came alive with glowing, bulbous umbrellas and trailing tentacles. Dozens of jellyfish hovering, searching the air with threaded appendages like blind fingers.
“He’s gone, Nathan.” Tears streaked Elena’s face. “We have to go.”
Nathan choked back a sob and leaped into the drain tunnel. Water flowed up to his chest, nearly shoving him back into Elena. He gritted his teeth and crawled forward, shuffling on elbows and knees across the slippery surface. Gloom enveloped him, trapping him in freezing water and suffocating humidity. Ariki died repeatedly in Nathan’s head, screaming as he was torn to pieces by creatures who wore Lurch’s face.
Nathan slipped, dunking his head in the rushing water. Gasping from the shock cold, he snapped out of his terrified stupor. Leveling his breathing, he pulled a flashlight from the pouch on his waist and clicked it on. The tunnel went a little way further before coming to a four-way intersection. The water came from one of the side tunnels, but up ahead was a barred gate and the welcome presence of grainy light.
“Think the end of the tunnel is up there. Must be the other side of the wall.”
Elena’s voice floated up from behind him. “Just keep moving. Anything to get the hell out of here.” Her voice was ragged, on the verge of breaking. He knew she was thinking about Ariki, too.
Nathan pulled himself from water into slimy muck. Brownish goo oozed between his fingers and coated his arms and chest. The stench of mold and rot was nearly overwhelming. Spongy stalks sprouted from the waste, flowering into thick and fleshy heads covered in greenish membrane. More mushrooms grew further back near the light, some heavy with bulbous domes the size of a human head.
He pushed through the nearest crop, trying to ignore the soft sensation like dead fingers brushing against his skin. The nearest mushroom broke open at the slightest touch, expelling a cloud of fine powder. Nathan recoiled, coughing as it seared his nostrils. The tunnel span around, completely disorienting him.
Hayes’ voice drifted up, high-pitched in alarm. “Guys… something’s in here with us. I think those Lurch creatures followed us.”
Elena tapped Nathan’s foot. “Hurry, Nate!”
“Going… fast as I… can.” Nathan’s voice slurred, his vision distorted, darkening the tunnel even further. He blinked rapidly, shaking his head to dispel the sudden dizziness. Elena and Hayes became indistinct, garbled voices in the gloom.
“What’s going on, Nate? Keep moving…”
“I’m telling you guys, I hear it right behind me…”
Nathan felt his strength give out as is his bones were water. He fought to keep his nose out of rancid liquid, struggled to breathe. Mushrooms sprouted and bloomed all around him in fast-forward speed; each one oversized, speckled, and colored in shades of sickness. The nearest one moved, turning his direction in exaggerated jerky motions. Deep runes and wrinkles crisscrossed the surface, forming a semblance of a half-rotted face. Nathan recognized the ghastly features.
It was his father.
David Ryder’s head slowly took more a detailed form, shuddering as fresh earth crumpled from his face. Most of his mouth was missing, steam wafted from the back of his head where the gunshot left a gaping exit wound.
David’s blackened tongue lolled, probing the bloody mess like a blackened finger. Gravelly laughter rattled from his throat.
“Gotta admit… boy. You did me… pretty good. Didn’t know you had it in you.” His stared with blind eyes, gray mushrooms that tilted in Nathan’s direction. “Always knew… you were no good. Ungrateful. Always taking me for… granted.” His wrinkly face contorted when he coughed. Black ooze and rotten teeth slid down his chin.
Nathan squeezed his eyes shut. No. Not real. It’s the Aberration. You’re tripping on the spores. It’s all in your head.
But when his eyes opened, David was still there. His grin was a jagged mess, the broken smile revealing pale maggots that crawled within the interior of his lopsided mouth.
“Expected me to just go away, boy? Disappear like those monsters in the closet you were always so afraid of? Running and crying for your mama. She ruined you. Made you into a stuttering retard. What else do you call a boy that can’t talk like a normal person?”
Nathan shook his head. “No. You’re n-not here. You’re d-d-dead!”
“Always crying. Never wanting to face reality.” David jerked back and forth, more of his body revealing itself. Mushrooms sprouted from his dead flesh, tiny vines overran his gaunt limbs. A grime-encrusted arm thrust forward, seizing Nathan by the throat with cold, bony fingers.