Untitled (21 page)

       Chappell laid back and smiled, watching scenes play out behind his sealed eyelids.

       
I see what you see.

       The visual link had been unexpected, forcing him to watch as they'd fed upon Sean and Darren. But it had given him so much more. Chappell had gained knowledge previously unknown to him. All he had to do was wait and everything would belong to him.

       Chappell sighed, letting the blood stained wadding drop to the floor. He was exhausted but there was much to do. He'd already painted the outside of the cabin in his own blood, the same symbols that covered his body. He'd be safe until the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Outside he heard the Slavis leaving and he smiled to himself.

       
Not long now.

Chappell didn't jump when the ring of the phone filled the medical room. He just reached out, took the handset and lifted it to his ear.

       "We're almost there," stated the Scottish accent blankly.

       "Everything's ready for you," Chappell replied.

       "As soon as we arrive I want your team gone."

       "They've been taken care of." Chappell almost giggled.

        "Just be ready to leave." The line went dead and Chappell dropped the handset to the floor.

       He lay back on the examination table and allowed the visions to fill his mind, running with the Slavis as they darted between and through the trees, towards the smell of living flesh. He allowed the scenes to play out behind his eyelids, witnessing the creatures drop upon the unsuspecting victims. Chappell fell asleep and the visions became dreams of feeding and of blood.

        Soon they would be strong and they would number in the hundreds. This was just the start of something more. He dreamed of tearing skin and rending bone, sharp teeth tearing through both with ease. Whilst he slept his body quivered with joy at the experience of power and the taste of life in his mouth.

       His eyelids danced and a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. Everything the Slavis saw he was privy to and amongst the screaming masses he saw the future. A future that would give him Kingship of the new world, a world where the day was turned into night. Where the roads were paved with bone and where pain would be worshipped.

       "Green?" Harrison looked up with a sense of relief that quickly turned to disbelief.

       "Looking for me?" Green was standing on the outside of tent, peering in through the curtain formed by the uneven rip.

       His stance was off kilter, his upper body leaning unnaturally to the left. His right arm hung useless, clearly broken in three places.

       "It takes a little getting used to," Green said with a smile, raising a hand to the savage laceration running around his neck like a glistening necklace. "But I think I like it," he laughed and dark fluid bubbled out of the gash, rippling the skin at the edges in a wave like motion.

       Harrison couldn't reply, his gaze fixed on the place that used to hold Green's eyes. Like the severed head he'd recently exhumed the eyes were missing, torn from the face to leave only bloody cavities. Though, as Harrison looked deeper, he became convinced he could see movement within the shadow filled sockets.

"It doesn't hurt," the Green creature wheezed. "In fact it's quite pleasant." It stepped through the tear in the tent wall and locked onto Harrison with a blind stare.

       Harrison attempted to stand, but his legs refused to obey the screamed order from his panic drenched mind. The Green creature took another step forward and knelt down in front of Harrison.

       "You could be like us." Green's grin widened, loose teeth falling from his blackened mouth. "Think of it as a career change." The old teeth were quickly replaced by barbed fangs, rough bone pushing up through ulcerated gums.

       Harrison remained transfixed by the swirling nothingness of Green's eyes, hypnotised by the gyrating black upon black. Harrison didn't move as the Green creature laid a hand on his shoulder. He felt the pain of claw-like hands sinking into his back, but all he could do was gaze into the void and taste the tears running down his checks and over his lips.

       The Green creature groaned deep in its throat, a sound akin to sexual pleasure. Leaning forward it placed its lips over Harrison's left eye, cradling the back of Harrison's head in its free hand. It stroked at Harrison's hair and breathed in deeply of the human smell of fear, so engrossed in the moment that it did not sense the movement to its left.

* * *

       Megan had left Peter in the care of Hewitt and Kaci, ignoring Harrison's final order and entering the tent. The first thing she saw was Harrison crouched on the floor as if in prayer. Then she saw the abomination knelt before him. Megan hesitated, pausing as red hot fear spiked through the forefront of her mind. The failure to act almost cost Harrison his life.

       The Green creature relished the moment, licking at Harrison's exposed eyeball with a pustule covered tongue. It moaned with climatic excitement and prepared to feed.

       Megan finally broke free of the spell of terror that held her in stasis, launching forward with a war cry exiting her mouth. She lashed out with her right leg with practiced ease, her body weight behind the attack. The heel of her boot smashed into the side of the Green creature's head with a satisfying crunch of hardened rubber against bone. The creature's lips were torn away from Harrison's face, the claws ripping loose from his back in a spray of deep red.

       With the contact broken Harrison's bodily control was returned to his mind. As was the sensation of pain, an agonising star burst that ignited every muscle from his neck to his waist. His eyes began to focus and recognition crept across his face. He looked from Megan to the Green creature confused and dazed.

       Megan bent at the waist and took hold of Harrison's wrist. She yanked him to his feet and he flinched as a new surge of pain ravaged its way along his spine.

       "You little bitch," screeched the Green creature, pushing itself upright and facing Megan. "You." The word came out in a long drawl, the jaw twisted out of shape.

       "Don't look at him," Harrison warned.

"What happened to him?"

       "You're talking about me as if I wasn't here," slurred the Green creature. "It's very rude." Without warning it lurched forward.

       Harrison tried to drag Megan away from the attack, but his every movement felt as if it was weighted with lead. Megan was snatched away before he could react.

       The Green creature hit Megan dead on and she felt Harrison's hand slip between her fingers as she was pushed backwards by the collision. The air in her lungs rushed up her gullet, forced out by the sudden impact with the ground. The Green creature loomed above her and she felt warm saliva splash heavily against her face.

       "You." More vile spittle dribbled down the inhuman chin and mixed with the thick fluid oozing from the neck wound.

       Megan forced her head to one side, the mucus and blood cocktail hitting her cheek and running slowly down the side of her face. She fought to breathe, tasting the vileness of the Green creature's fluids. She gagged, her throat constricting in rebellion against the foreign matter invading her taste buds.

       Harrison's mind reeled at what he was seeing, trying to comprehend the horror before him and considering his options. He'd taken in every aspect of the tent interior upon entering and now he acted on impulse. He dove to the left, a clumsy manoeuvre that allowed him to snatch up the long handle shovel leaned awkwardly against an over turned table. With the handle gripped in both hands he swung around, a scream of anger and fear bursting from his lungs.

       The Green creature looked up, the mangled grin on its face dropping at the approaching shovel head. The blade hit skin and cut through with a sickening tearing sound, only coming to a halt when it embedded in the bone of the its spinal column.