Kingdom Keepers V(125)

As the others slowed, he kicked Luowski’s partner in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He kneed the zombie-voiced Cast Member in his stomach, bending him over, then threw an elbow into the guy’s face and pushed past him.

Luowski was standing in the quietly moving water, hunched forward and waiting for him.

“End of the ride,” Luowski said.

“It’s a spell, you tool. You’re her slave. Think about it.”

“As if…” But maybe—just maybe—he was thinking about it. “By the time the sun comes up, we’ll control the Base. That includes the fiber optics connecting all the parks. And that’s just the first step. You picked the wrong side.”

“You think? No one tells me what to do. I’m here by choice. You? You do everything and anything she tells you to. How’s that feel, big shot?”

“It’s all about to change. In ways you can’t begin to understand.” It sounded memorized.

“You think we don’t know about Chernabog?” Maybeck tried. He’d effectively closed the distance to where Luowski was now only a yard away. He fell back, using the water as a cushion and its flow to his advantage as he collided with Luowski’s strong legs. He kicked the kid in both knees at once.

Luowski’s knees locked.

Maybeck sat up, reached behind both of the boy’s ankles, and pulled at his heels. Luowski went down fast and unexpectedly. He reached out to block his fall, not realizing the water would protect him. Maybeck rolled out of the water trough, scrambled to his feet, and took off at a run down the stairs, leaving the three behind him.

By the time the sun comes up, we’ll control the Base.

He had to get word to Wayne. He had to find Philby.

He pulled out his phone.

Dead as a doornail.

* * *

Finn whispered, “What has a head, thorax, and abdomen, but stands six feet tall?”

“A snowman?” she said, facing the same creature as he faced.

“If it was a snowman wouldn’t it leave wet footprints?” He imagined it was an enchantment. It had a magnified look—its white surface lined with stretch marks like a shriveling balloon.

It was moving toward them in the dark. Three white balls of declining size from the bottom up, stacked one atop the other, but with short, fat legs and strawlike arms.

“Oh, my,” she said. “You’re right.”

“It’s…a doughboy,” he muttered, trying not to sound afraid of the thing. Three balls of flour dough, stacked.

“What is that in its hand?”

“A cleaver. As in—”

“Butcher’s knife.”

“You got it.”

“I hope not.”

“He does not look happy.”

“Are you sure it’s a he?”

“I don’t want to know,” Finn said.

They turned around in unison. Another faceless doughboy, also coming at them. This one was armed with a grill fork—two sharpened tines on the end of a two-foot length of metal with a wooden handle.

“We need to keep our holograms.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Finn said. He tried swiping his hand through the stainless steel cafeteria shelf that ran the length of this part of the kitchen. No problem.

“I realize we can probably walk right through them,” Willa said. “But you first.”

“How ’bout we test it with the baking racks first?” he said, indicating five-foot-high shelving on wheels. They were designed with slots to accept trays, but with no trays they were open and easy to see through. Finn and Willa each took one and turned back-to-back in order to keep the rolling racks between them and the doughboys.

“Charge!” Willa said, pushing the rolling rack in front of her. Finn did the same.

The weirdest thing happened. The racks collided with the doughboys, but did not meet resistance, nor did they bounce off the doughy flesh. Instead, the white gooey paste that composed their thoraxes and abdomens absorbed the metal, first wrapping around it, then parting and accepting it so that their flesh consumed it.

“Ewww!” Willa shouted. “This thing is—”

“Mine, too!” Finn called back as his doughboy reached around and tried to separate his neck from his shoulders. Finn could not just stand there with a cleaver aimed at his neck. He ducked. The cleaver sliced the air above.

“Whoa!”

Willa cried, having been stabbed through the shoulder with the grill fork. It had passed through her hologram, but her brain convinced her she’d been skewered.

The rest of Finn’s rolling rack was absorbed by the beast like quicksand. A moment later it reappeared and passed through the creature’s back.

“That is…disgusting!”