Ed winced, feeling his eardrums pop. His head throbbed with pain. Beside him, Keoni shut his eyes tight and hunched over. “Ga’o, kefe!”
The tall Dark One, the one Keoni had identified as the Elder, continued chanting in that strange guttural tongue, and as it did, Ed recognized a pattern in its speech. It was repeating the same thing Josel had said as the old man laid on the ground. “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.”
“What does that mean?” Ed whispered.
“I don’t know,” Keoni said. He was regaining some of his old bravado. Though still scared, some confidence was creeping back into him. “But I don’t want to stick around to find out.”
“I don’t either.”
“Let’s make a break for it, while they’re chanting.”
Ed looked around desperately. The Dark Ones crowded closer, tridents and spears raised menacingly. The Elder stopped its trilling chanting and the air seemed to grow still, as if whatever in the rectangle had suddenly stopped giving out its power; that’s what Ed felt, at least. He was certain the weird vibe he was getting was coming from that thing. The sloshing water was slowing down, as if whatever had been making the waves within it had stopped.
One of the Dark Ones raised a trident over its head and charged. Ed and Keoni yelled simultaneously, ducked, and darted forward. The trident flew over their heads and crashed with a loud clang onto the stone floor at the base of the rectangle. As it hit, Ed felt the air begin to shift again just as he and Keoni dived toward the opening—right into the arms of two large Dark Ones.
When his children were younger, back before they’d moved out and gotten married and had children of their own, Ed had taken them to the zoo one summer day. His son had been mesmerized by the reptile house, and they’d spent half their visit looking at the snakes, iguanas, monitor lizards, and other reptiles. Ed had never forgotten the smell—a peculiar, heady, almost wet odor. The Dark Ones smelled like that, too. The stench grew stronger as the creatures clutched him tight in a deadly embrace.
He glanced over at Keoni and saw that his monstrous captor had lifted him off the floor by his balls. Ed closed his eyes and whimpered as the pressure around him increased.
Keoni screamed.
Ed wasn’t even aware he was screaming. He felt some-thing warm and wet flood over him and he was trying to run away. He knew his legs were moving, but when he opened his eyes again and looked down, he saw that they were gone. A stream of gore jetted out of the lower half of his body and he caught a brief glimpse of his waist and upper legs as they became the subject of a tug-of-war between two Dark Ones. Ed could only watch as the creatures fought over the limbs, pulling them apart the way children would tear apart a wishbone at Thanksgiving. The bones came apart in a wet snap, and then Ed was lifted off the ground higher, a vice-like grip tightening across his chest. Ed struggled against the creature’s grip as it held him at eye level. He was dimly aware of Keoni’s screams, which were abruptly cut off as the man’s head was severed and flew through the air amid a spray of blood. Keoni’s head smashed against one of the hideous statues and bounced on the cavern floor. Blood ran from his ears.
The Elder grinned at Ed, sporting rows of jagged teeth. The pressure in the room grew heavier. Something roared—something that was not a Dark One or a Clicker. The last thing Ed saw before his eyes closed for good was the sloshing water inside the rectangle growing more frenzied as something else appeared within its depths.
FIFTEEN
The jungle teemed with Dark Ones and Clickers. Clark, Tony and the Black Lodge agents mounted a strong offensive against the swarming hordes as they ran through the jungle in their tight formation, heading toward the ominous Mount Rigiri. It had been a few years since Clark had held an M16 and the weapon felt right in his hands, like a natural part of himself. Beside him, Tony let loose with a barrage of gunfire at a trio of Dark Ones who burst at them from a grove of trees, dropping them instantly. No doubt, the M16 was a weapon of choice for Tony, too.
“Got any more of these iguana fucks?” Tony called out. “Bring ‘em on!”
“Stay focused,” Clark cautioned him.
“I am focused.” Grinning, Tony stared down at the corpses. “Look at those fuckers bleed.”
Onyx urged them forward. “Let’s keep moving, gentlemen.”
They began moving again as Diamond drew a bead on a fast-moving Clicker, and unleashed a barrage, cutting it down. The creature thrashed in its death throes, spraying blood and venom.
“I don’t get it,” Tony shouted. “Last time I fought these things, they were damn near bullet-proof. Oh, the Dark Ones were easy enough, but to cap a Clicker, you almost had to have a lucky shot. So why are our guns working? Magic M16’s?”