“That is the most messed up thing I’ve ever seen,” West said.
“You can probably put down the gun,” Andy told him. “I don’t think it will do much.”
Lucas put his head back on his neck, and the skin began to knit together. Sun was shocked, and impressed. But that gory trick didn’t prove Lucas was actually Lucifer.
“If you can do that,” Andy said. “You could probably stop Bub all on your own.”
Lucas cleared his throat. When he spoke, he was hoarse. “‘Tis not my destiny. It’s yours. Since I was kicked out of heaven, I’ve become a bit of a stickler for God’s rules. Going against His plan hasn’t worked out well for me before. I’ve walked this earth for millennia, cut off from God’s love. At first, I was angry. I hurt a great many people, for a great many years. The defiler was responsible for much of my bad press, but I’d earned enough of it for myself. Then I had a change of heart. I tried to preach the Lord’s word. To spread the message of His love. I hoped it would get me back in His good graces, you see. I was even willing to take on all the burden of all the sins of humanity.”
“Let me guess,” Sun said. “You were willing to die for our sins, too?”
“I cannot die. Not that I know of. But I did let them nail me to that cross. I pretended to die, and three days later left the tomb and let my followers touch the holes in my hands and feet. It worked, to a degree. Christianity spread like wildfire. But when they wrote the Gospels, I was still the enemy. Funny, eh? To die as a savior, and still live as the corrupter of man. The church has been getting it wrong ever since.”
“You’re saying you were Jesus,” West said.
“I’ve gone by many names. That’s one. Right now, I prefer Lucas.”
This was a whole lot to take in. But then again, they were surrounded by real life monsters.
“Help us destroy Bub,” Sun said, grasping Lucas on the shoulder.
Lucas smiled sadly. “That isn’t my job. If I interfere, I am acting against God.”
“What if it
is
your job?” Sun said. She still had no idea what to believe, but Lucas seemed to believe his own story. “What if God cast you down so you would be here for this very moment?”
“I don’t believe that is the case, lass.”
Andy chimed in. “You said yourself that it’s impossible to know God. Maybe everything you’ve been through has all led up to this moment. Maybe the reason Sun and I are here is to convince you it’s finally time to stop standing by the side lines, watching, and to finally start fighting. If you really are the Devil, it’s time to stop whispering in ears. You say you love mankind, then fight for us.”
Lucas didn’t reply. Sun looked at her husband and he stared back.
“Things are about to get worse,” Lucas said.
The alarm went off, ringing in Sun’s ears.
“Protocol Omega,” West said. “General Kane has reactivated it.”
After prying open the lift doors, Nessie, Jerry, and the imps began to ascend the metal ladder running up the shaft. Jerry had insisted on going first, and was doing his best to keep his breathing under control because he didn’t want Nessie to know how out of shape he was.
Climbing a hundred meter ladder was hard bloody work.
“We just passed level 4,” Nessie called up beneath him. “One more floor to go.”
Thank Christ.
Jerry’s legs and arms felt like rubber, and his lungs were ready to give out. The imps didn’t make matters easier, scrambling over Jerry’s shoulders and head, constantly changing positions.
“Those imps are adorable,” Nessie said.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“They seem to like you.”
“Mmmmm.”
“You okay? You sound out of breath.”
“I’m fine,” Jerry puffed.
An alarm went off, echoing through the elevator shaft.
“That’s the Omega Protocol again,” Nessie said. “We have thirty minutes before this place fills up with cement.”
Thirty minutes? We still have to get the anti-venom, climb back down and help Rimmer, and then climb all the way out of the facility.
We don’t have time.
“Move faster,” Nessie implored.
Jerry wanted to tell her there was no point. They weren’t going to make it. Maybe, if they left Rimmer and Wolfie and tried for the surface, they’d have a chance. But even if he lived, Jerry didn’t think he could live with himself if he went the route of quitter and coward. Rimmer’s words from earlier played out in his head.
Worst thing a man can do is lie down and accept death. God gave us life. It’s our duty to preserve it.
They might not have enough time, but they had to try anyway.
Jerry climbed faster, getting to level three just as the elevator doors opened. He startled, thinking some monster was about to pounce on him.
But it wasn’t a monster. It was Rimmer’s team leader, West. And behind him was Sun, Andy, and Lucas.
“Son of a gun,” Jerry said.
Maybe, just maybe, they had a chance after all.
Rimmer was shivering.
Wolfie licked his face and curled up next to him. Rimmer thought of all the years he’d put in, guarding the Spiral, and wondered if they’d been worth it. Had he really been protecting humanity from terrible monsters?
Wolfie wasn’t a monster. Neither were the imps. There were probably other creatures in this Deus Manus facility and others that were being locked away for no reason.
On the other hand, the draculas were certainly an abomination, and so were many of the Spiral’s other inhabitants. Rimmer felt that, by keeping them under lock and key, he was partially responsible for the horrors they’d inflict on the planet when they got out.
Which is why he was somewhat relieved when he heard the Omega Protocol alarm.
Kane had come through after all. Hopefully it wasn’t too late.
Rimmer closed his eyes, letting a sense of peace wash over him. The spider venom was killing him, and he knew it. But he felt resigned to his fate. He wasn’t giving up, just accepting that there was nothing left for him to fight.
Then Wolfie sprang to his feet, growling, his hackles raised. He crouched down in a pounce position, nose pointed at the cell door.
Any hope that it was Jerry and Nessie returning was dashed when a gigantic praying mantis ducked its head into the cell.
Jerry was glad to see Andy and the others still alive, but they didn’t have the time for an extended happy reunion.
“Rimmer’s on subbasement 5,” Jerry blurted out. “He needs our help.”
“He was bitten by spiders,” Nessie added. “We need the anti-venom. It’s in Lab 3.”
“I’ll go,” West said. “You all stay here.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jerry said.
West snorted.
“I can cover your back. Rimmer taught me how to shoot.” Jerry held up the rifle. “I just need a magazine.”
“Your brother would be proud of you, Jerry-lad,” Lucas said.
Jerry tried not to react. Instead he studied his feet. “He doesn’t even know we’re brothers.”
“Of course he does. And he forgives you for stealing from your father.”
Jerry looked at Lucas, feeling the emotion well up inside him. “How do you know that?”
“It turns out Lucas is actually Jesus,” Andy said. “And Lucifer. It’s a whole, complicated thing.”
“What?”
“It’s a long story,” said West. “He cut off his own head to prove it.”
Jerry frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“It makes as much sense as anything else happening right now. You sure you can handle the Kriss?”
Jerry lifted his chin, then nodded.
West handed him three magazines. Jerry popped one in and racked it like a pro, proud he didn’t screw it up in front of everybody. Then he gave the sick imp to Nessie. The other imps huddled around Nessie’s legs, staring at Jerry forlornly.
West and Jerry began to walk down the hallway when Nessie yelled, “Wait!”
Jerry turned around. She ran to him, threw her arms around his shoulders, and kissed him. There was a little more passion in it this time. “For luck,” she said.
“That’s from Star Wars,” Jerry told her. “When Leah kissed Luke.”
“I know,” Nessie beamed. “I love that movie.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re my sister, does it?”
“I hope not. That would be creepy.”
“No kidding.”
“Cut from the same cloth, those two,” Lucas said.
West resumed his jog. Jerry followed. He was still out of breath from climbing the stairs, but he managed to catch up. Nessie’s kiss had reinvigorated him.
“How far is it?” he asked.
“About a three minute jog.
Jerry nodded. “So about as long as it takes to have sex then?”
“Have you even had sex?”
“Yeah, plenty of times. Just never with a person.”
West barked a laugh. “Just pay attention to your surroundings, hotshot. Hopefully there won’t be any hostiles. How’s Sergeant Rimmer?”
“The faster we move, the better.”
“Let’s double-time then.”
West put on a burst of speed, and Jerry struggled to keep pace. They ran down the hallway, which was empty except for dead people and splattered monsters. Jerry ran past a giant scorpion and a humongous centipede, and marvelled at the size of their corpses.
“Did you see those things? Holy shit!”
“Will, you keep your goddamn voice down. Just because there’s no one here, doesn’t mean we want to advertise our presence.”
West placed a hand up over his shoulder and stopped. Jerry understood the signal and stopped too. “What is it?” he whispered.
“I heard something.”
“What?”
“If I knew what, I’d say what it was instead of
something.
”
They waited.
“I don’t like this. The monsters on the upper basements are like animals. They just come running soon as they see you. But the ones lower down are smart. They think. They plan.”
“So what would be their plan?”
Slowly, West raised his head and stared up at the ceiling. “I think their plan would be to get the jump on us.”
On the ceiling, clinging to an air duct was an abomination right out of a nightmare.
“Clever girl,” Jerry muttered.
The creature above them was a griffon. Half eagle, half lion, hanging from the ceiling by its claws.
“Move!” West shoved Jerry aside and performed a combat roll.
The griffon hit the floor where they’d been standing, then squawked out a war cry.
West attempted to bring his rifle up, but the beast bit down on it with its gigantic beak, tearing it from his grasp.
Jerry unloaded the magazine into the monster, the first shots missing, but a smattering of them eventually slamming home. The griffon spun around, snarling. It snapped at Jerry with what would surely have been a fatal blow if it had connected, but he managed to leap away just in time.
West scrambled for his fallen rifle, but the griffon stomped forwards and grabbed him by his belt. It yanked him up by his waist, three feet off the ground.
West fiddled with his buckle. Found the clasp. He hit the floor and crumpled.
Jerry managed to reload, aiming at the monster’s head.
“Say hello to my little friend!” He was holding the Kriss at his hip like Al Pacino. He pulled the trigger and let off a burst of rounds.
The rifle kicked upwards, striking Jerry in the face and knocking him on his ass. None of the bullets hit, and his nose began to bleed.
“My bad,” he mumbled in pain.
He was loading another magazine as West leapt to his feet, pulled his combat knife from the scabbard around his thigh, and lunged at the beast in front of him. He managed to leap three feet into the air and brought his arm around the griffon’s neck, driving the blade into its breast.
The griffon screeched. Blood jetted out from its wound.
West yanked and pulled at the knife, working it around like a gear stick and doing as much damage as possible. The beast continued to scream but the high-tones of agony had entered its mighty voice. The wound on its chest widened, spilt more blood.
West left the combat knife sticking out of the creature’s breastbone and found his gun. He was positioned so he and Jerry had the griffon in a crossfire.
“Now!” West yelled.
This time Jerry shouldered the weapon correctly, and they shredded the monster, fur and feathers and blood spraying everywhere. The wounded animal took three steps toward Jerry, beak opened wide to chomp him in half, and then fell over, dead.
“Say hello to my little friend?” West said. “Really?”
Jerry was going to defend his choice of cool quotes, but West was already jogging down the hall again.
“Hurry,” West said. “We’ve wasted four minutes.”
Jerry hurried.
Dr. Gornman was so angry she could spit fire.
Kane, that asshole, had somehow restarted the Omega Protocol. In less than twenty-five minutes, the Spiral would begin filling with cement. And Bub, that lying son of a bitch, still hadn’t come to see her. After all she’d done for him.
If you can’t trust Satan, who can you trust?
“Goooooooornmaaaaan.”
Her head shot up, and she saw that Bub had entered her office. Gornman shuddered with revulsion upon seeing him; a visceral reaction. But overpowering that was her anger.
“It’s about damn time you showed up. That idiot Kane is going to bring down the entire facility.”
“I will deeeeeeeal with Kaaaaaaaaane. You must staaaaaaart the elevaaaaaaaaaaators.”
Gornman placed her hands on her keyboard, then hesitated. Once she put the elevators back online, she had no bargaining power with Bub. Everyone knew that if you had no power in a negotiation, you weren’t needed.
“You promised to make me second in command in your army.”
“I willllll.”
“When?”
“Sooooooooon.”
Bub had gotten closer to her. His rank smell made Gornman gag. Like a wet dog that had rolled around in something dead.
“Elevaaaaaaaators,”
Bub commanded.
Gornman felt a stab of fear. What if she did as instructed, and then Bub killed her? The image of General Kane, wrapped in his own intestines, sprang into her mind. Not a pleasant way to shed your mortal coil.