"They will let us pass," Stroud tried to assure the others, who were not fighting at their seatbelts to step from the false safety of the bubble they sat behind.
"Can we be sure of that?" asked a worried Wiz.
"Yes, now hurry!" Stroud's voice was tinged with a mix of anxious frustration and a healthy fear of his own as he climbed from the pilot's seat, taking the skull firmly in one hand, his helmet in another. They all got out, strapping on and snapping down the last remaining portions of their protective wear as the zombies looked on in wide-eyed silence, a green eerie glow about them where their own eyes emanated a strange light. They were a ragtag army of people from all walks, all ages and all manner of dress, their clothes torn, soggy and soiled, many wearing clothes stained with blood. Kendra tried to keep her mind focused on Stroud and the skull, as did Wiz, pulling at Leonard to stay close.
The zombies, whose bodies formed the final barricade around the pit leading to the ship, parted as they neared them; they did so in mechanical, silent fashion. "Very obliging," said Stroud.
"Too obliging," replied Kendra.
"Once inside, we will have the upper hand," Stroud promised them all.
"What's to keep these fiends from sealing us inside with this evil?" asked Leonard. "None, none at all! I'm going back!"
Leonard bolted for the helicopter, pulling free of Wiz. Stroud rushed after and the wall of zombies moved in at them as Stroud caught Leonard. The zombies began their eerie chant and Stroud held the skull overhead, reflecting the green glow in a concentrated beam, changing their "Ummmmmmmmmmmm" into a chant of "Esss-ruuuuuu-aaaaaaaad, Esss-ruuuuuu-aaaaaaaad" and making them once again part for the party of fearful scientists. "They won't let us go now, Leonard," Stroud shouted over the din. "There's only one way out of this hell now; only one way--down the damned thing's throat."
Wiz and Kendra supported Leonard as they again moved toward the mouth of the Hell before them. It appeared blacker now than it had been when they had first entered it only a few days before. So much had happened since then; so many people had died, and so many others had been transformed into executioners.
"Move along ... move along," Stroud ushered the others in and Kendra had the unsettling thought that this vile creature was possibly much more cunning than they'd given it credit for, and that Stroud was as yet under its influence the way he was herding them into this black inferno. He looked at her suddenly, as if reading her mind, and said, "Trust me, Kendra ... trust me."
"Yeah ... I'm trying ... trying."
The light in the skull had dimmed as soon as they came within stepping distance of the pit itself. Part of the bow of the ship was visible here and Wiz placed a shaky hand on it, drawing his protected, gloved hand along the petrified remnants.
"Where do we go from here, Stroud?" he asked.
"The geographic center of the ship, but getting to it will be difficult to say the least. We can expect obstacles thrown up along our way."
"Obstacles?" asked Leonard.
"As before."
"But why?" asked Kendra, who had been debriefed by Stroud and the others on the details of their first encounter with the supernatural forces abounding in the ship. Even this deterrent hadn't kept her back. A video recording the same information had been left with Commissioner Nathan in the event they did not return.
"Yes, Abe, why would it place obstacles in our way if it parted the zombies for us?"
"It wants the crystal and Esruad, but it wants them on its terms, and down here, it makes the terms. We must be prepared for anything."
"We are," said Wiz, hefting his dart gun, looking awkward doing so.
Kendra held firm to the wand of her gas jet and said, "I only pray this will be enough."
Stroud saw, as did Leonard and Wiz, that the corridor leading into the pit had widened considerably, dug out by the army of working zombies the evil had employed. Before them lay a network of crisscrossing and parallel tunnels, which ran, it appeared, completely around the ship, the walls dripping with dampness. It was a labyrinth of darkness, cell upon cell of stored carcasses placed in beehive fashion into the walls and covered over with a waxy gauze. Stroud handed the skull to Kendra, investigating one of the cells. There were five dead to a hive, except that they weren't completely dead. Most were maimed, parts ripped from them, some looking as if they'd been bitten near to death, others without skin. They were the victims of the monster that had grown bored with them, and so put aside for later. It was storing the bodies after feeding on them, putting them up with the help of the zombie servants. It would return to them later for a second and third feeding. In so doing, it sapped away their spirits, their souls, Stroud realized.
Kendra and the others were spared the sight of the helpless, limbless creatures put up in storage in small cells oozing with the brown muck of the monster. Stroud knew that they could see the awkward shadows through the gauze and hear the awful babble of men without tongues, but he moved his party along, going ever deeper into the pit. There was only one way to help the suffering, only one way to save the city and the world from this terror.
"We've got to get into the ship itself," Stroud told the others.
"Easier said than done," replied Wiz. "Look."
They stared at the enormous, hideous creature guarding the only entry way open to them, the entrance they had once before used. The thing at the portal of rotten timbers had no visible or discernible face, but its limbs were long, hanging to its sides to what would be the knees on a man. It was bestial in appearance, much like a grizzly bear, save for the fact it had no snout, no eyes, and yet it seemed to be staring out at them from untold eyes as it sent a long, trailing feeler toward Leonard, who raced to get away from it, shouting and jumping.
"Use your weapons!" Stroud said, and they all began to fire on the beast, Kendra sending up a cloud of gas.
"This way, this way!" Leonard was shouting and rushing on, deeper into the pit.
"No! We stand and fight!" Stroud shouted, but Wiz bolted after Leonard, fearing for the man. Kendra felt the tentacle of the beast swipe by her face as she showered it with gas. A thousand screeching voices seemed to be coming from the creature as Stroud grabbed her and pushed her along the path Leonard and Wisnewski had taken.
"Out of here now!" he shouted through his comlink, and she obeyed without hesitation, following in Wiz's footsteps. Stroud, holding firm to the skull, raising it in the direction of the gas fog and the monster that was pursuing them, saw little creatures scampering about his feet and he kicked out at the hairy, sharp-toothed beasts, sending several flying and rolling off in balls of fur. A final one he crushed below his boot, hearing the explosion of its insides as he fired several more darts into the larger, heaving form in the fog.
"Come on, Abe! Now, away!" she shouted for him, and Stroud rushed to fulfill her request without looking back.
Stroud had wanted to take the ship by storm, to battle the first obstacle for the right to enter the ship at what appeared the easiest access. Yet the skull was strangely quiet, the light in it depressingly weak, and it was as if Esruad had abandoned him. Stroud was also disappointed in Wiz and Leonard. Only Kendra had stood her ground in the face of the horror that had approached them.
Kendra was kneeling over Leonard where he had dropped, his breathing too heavy. He'd taken in too much oxygen and was hyperventilating. Wiz stood over his friend, worried, offering words of encouragement and calm to Leonard. When he saw Stroud step from the shadows with the skull in his hands, Wisnewski said, "You shouldn't've forced Sam back here. You shouldn't've, Stroud."