Live Girls (40 page)

A large white hand snaked between the bars, clutched his hair, and pushed him away, then pulled his head hard into the bars.

The darkness was suddenly much, much deeper, and Benedek knew nothing.

Casey drew her knees up against her breasts and covered her ears with her wrists, trying to block out the sound of pounding beneath the floor, trying not to think of what was down there, trying with no success to ignore the raw, chitinous feeling of
need
that chewed through her body.

"Stop it!"
she shrieked, pressing her wrists harder over her ears.

The pounding stopped.

She heard a voice, muffled at first, then louder, clearer.

“Casey?"

She pulled one wrist away and looked through her tears at the trapdoor.

“Casey, it's
me, Davey!
"

She remembered the hands that had groped for her earlier.

“Casey, are you there?"

And wondered if the voice was genuine.

“Casey, unlock this door!"

Or if they were trying to fool her again.

The pounding continued.

“Casey,
please!
"

She closed her eyes and covered both ears again, whimpering, trying to stop the pounding, the voice, and the pain of her hunger.

As Davey pounded on the trapdoor, he felt the stairs jolt beneath him. When he looked down, the creature was using its claw to heave itself painfully up the steps.

Davey took a step down and kicked the creature in the face as hard as he could without falling.

Bits of its skull shot into the darkness with the impact of Davey's foot, snickering over the floor as they landed. The creature tumbled back to the floor, but immediately rolled over and, despite the dark fluids running out of its forehead and into its eyes, began pulling itself back up the stairs again.

Davey pulled the gun from his pocket and aimed it at the creature's head once again.

“I'll hurt you some more,” Davey blurted, trying to keep the gun from trembling. “I'll hurt you
bad
."

The thing stopped on the stairs and gawked up at Davey, making a low, throaty humming sound.

The other creatures moved back a bit.

One of them laughed; it sounded more like a belch.

Davey held the gun on the stubby beast.

It didn't come any closer, but it didn't back away.

There were footsteps over Davey's head; they were accompanied by the sound of something heavy being dragged over the floor.

A door opened.

A voice, its words barely distinguishable, spoke angrily: “...one's for you if you want it or ... go down there and fight ... others for it..."

“God, he's
alive
..."

Casey!

“...him before he wakes..."

“No! No more,
please!
"

“...
have
to!"

“No, no, I won't ... him away..."

“All
right
.” Footsteps, more dragging. “If
that
”—
fumbling clicks, and the door jarred
—“
is what
”—
more clicking
—“
you
want
.” The door swung open and Davey saw Shideh, soft gold-colored light flickering shadows over her tall figure, lifting a limp body by the back of its coat and dangling it over the opening.

Christ, it's Walter!
Davey thought.

She dropped him in and he landed heavily on Davey, tumbling the two of them down the stairs. Davey clutched the gun tightly to keep from dropping it as they rolled over the legless creature on the stairs and sprawled onto the floor. Davey was lying facedown over Benedek and felt him move.

“Walter!” Davey hissed, getting up.

Benedek was on his back; his forehead was bleeding from two cuts.

Davey got up on his knees and began shaking the big man.

“Walter! It's Davey, Walter, for Christ's sake, get
up!
” The two balls were bobbing on the surface of the oil somewhere inside the silent, squatting tank in the corner and could blow any minute. Davey had no idea how long it would take, providing it worked. If it
did,
the whole room could be gutted by flames in a moment.

“Let go!” Casey screamed. “Please let go of me, oh
God,
don't put me down there,
please!
"

Davey looked up and saw Shideh's arms hooked beneath Casey's, lifting her, kicking frantically, over the open door.

“Walter,
get up!
” Davey shouted, giving the man one final, hard shake before starting up the stairs two at a time, keeping his eyes on Shideh's feet which stood at the very edge of the opening; he rammed her lower legs with his shoulder as he dove out of the basement.

Shideh fell back and hit the wall; Casey rolled over the floor away from her. Shideh landed on a cushion in the corner and was getting up again even before she was completely down.

“Davey!” Casey cried, and she repeated his name again, laughing and crying at once. “Davey, thank God..."

Davey was on his knees as Shideh lunged forward, her white hair billowing around her head. He raised the gun and fired without aiming.

Shideh's arms splayed outward and her body slammed back against the wall. A dark hole opened in the creamy skin just above the neckline of her black dress.

She tilted her head back; her face tightened and her eyes clenched shut; she pressed herself to the wall and made a deep, almost inaudible growling sound.

The bullet slowly began to ooze back out of the glistening wound in her chest until it was squeezed completely from the opening and fell to the floor with a clicking rattle.

The hole began to close.

Davey fired again and, again, she was thrown against the wall.

He fired again. And again ... and again ... and again...

Something was banging in Benedek's head and something was sticking into his back just below his right shoulder blade, something sharp and hard. He started to roll over, lifting his head painfully.

Where am I?
he wondered.

There was a whispered voice to his right.

“This one's alive, too."

What had
happened?
Just an instant ago, he'd found Jackie in a cage
—
they were keeping her in a
cage
—
he had to find her again...

Benedek rolled to his left, wincing at the pain in his head and back and legs as he propped himself up on an elbow and gasping when he saw her just a couple feet away from him, lying on her back, her lips slightly parted, her arms stretched out above her head.

“Jackie! Jackie!” he bellowed.

Her nightgown was torn and bloody and her hair was streaked with something dark
—
what
was
it?
—
and Benedek pulled himself toward her as the banging continued
—
gunshots,
he thought vaguely
—
from above.

“Walter!” Davey shouted between shots. “Walter, get up here!"

Benedek felt himself smiling as he reached for Jackie and pulled her toward him. He opened his mouth to shout to Davey that he'd found her, but the words would not come and the smile twisted into a silent scream when he saw that the left side of Jackie's face was gone, and shattered bones jutted from what used to be a smooth and kissable cheek and her mouth smiled all the way up to the empty socket of her left eye revealing jawbone and two rows of teeth and her throat was open on the left side, the skin frayed to a meaty brown around the edges and Benedek knew he was going to vomit, he felt his gorge rising fast and he pulled away from Jackie's body and emptied himself on the dirty floor. He couldn't hear the voice behind him.

“Just gimme your foot..."

And hardly noticed the tugging on his shoe, but only heard the gonging ring in his ears as he turned his head to look behind him just as he felt hot breath on the side of his bare foot and he sucked in a ragged gasp just as the teeth bit into his flesh.

Davey stopped shooting.

In the sudden silence, Casey's sobs seemed amplified.

Shideh was slumped against the wall, her head bent forward, her white hair cascading before her. The wall was splashed with her blood and bits of flesh. The last shot had taken out her right temple and eye.

The door slammed open and Davey spun around, pointing the gun at a tall balding man with thin, reddish-brown hair. The man made a strangled, shocked sound in his throat when he saw Shideh, then he turned on Davey, baring his fangs as he rushed forward.

Davey fired the gun and the man fell back, slapping his left hand just below his right shoulder; blood dribbled between his fingers as he started toward Davey again.

The gun clicked.

The man lifted a hand to strike Davey.

“Roger!"

He froze, his hand in midair.

“Go!"

The bottom fell out of Davey's stomach as he looked over his shoulder and saw Shideh rising to her feet. Her head was a bloody mess. The hole that had been over her right temple was smaller.

Jesus,
Davey thought,
thirteen bullets, I put thirteen bullets into her!

Her dress glistened with trails of blood, but it was no longer flowing freely from her wounds as it had been.

She was healing.

“I'll take this one,” she said, looking at Davey.

Davey stuffed the gun under his left arm and reached to his left pocket for another magazine, but Shideh was moving too quickly.

“Go!” she snapped again at the man by the open door, then turned to Davey once more. Her face, striped with blood from her gouged eye and wounded head, burned with hatred as her lips pulled back over her fangs and her snout curled into a deadly snarl.

The door slammed as the man left.

Benedek screamed downstairs: “
Jackie!
"

Casey cried Davey's name.

Davey let the gun drop from under his arm. He stuck his hand into his right coat pocket and grasped the handle of the kitchen knife; as Shideh closed in on him, Davey held the blade out before him so that she walked right into it. The knife slid inside her just above her pelvis, and she grunted as she wrapped her powerful arms around Davey's shoulders. Putting his weight into it, Davey pulled up on the blade, slicing through the flesh and muscle of her belly all the way up to her sternum. She leaned on Davey heavily; he could feel her insides oozing against his coat, warm and wet. Her hold on him loosened, her arms slid down his sides, her face rested on his shoulder as she spit up blood with a gurgling sigh. Davey pulled out the knife, stepping back just enough to let her guts splash to the floor, then stepped back again so Shideh had nothing to lean on, and she thumped to the floor facedown.

Davey dropped the bloody knife back into his pocket.

“Casey,” he gasped, “are you okay?” He rushed around the open trapdoor to her side; she was curled against the wall across the room, trembling and crying. Davey crouched beside her and held her close. “We've got to get out of here. Can you walk by yourself?"

Her whole body quaked in his arms and she pressed herself into his embrace, hissing, “Davey, I'm so hungry, I'm
sooo hungry,
Davey, help me, make it stop."

He gently pulled away and moved toward the trapdoor from which he could hear Benedek's struggles. He looked over the edge and saw the man trying to clamber up the stairs, his hands groping for a firm hold, his mouth open wide.

Something behind him was holding him back.

“Davey,” he croaked, “they're
biting
me, Davey, they're biting my
feet!
"

Davey went two steps down the stairs and, leaning forward, braced his left elbow against the edge of the opening and reached his right hand toward Benedek.

“Grab it!” he shouted.

Benedek reached for Davey's hand, but was pulled back down a few steps until he got his grip again and pulled himself up one step, another, one ... more...