Clickers III (29 page)

“Do you hear that, Wade?” Susan clasped his hand and smiled. “We get to stay here.”

“Y-yeah,” he replied, glancing at Jennifer in concern. “I heard that, Susan. You sure you’re feeling okay?”

“I’ve never felt better. It’s wonderful. You should try it. My eyes have been opened.”

“I was afraid of that,” Ruby muttered, elbowing Diamond. “You shouldn’t have used a calming spell this close to the doorway. The psychic backlash is too strong. Dagon’s presence is impacting her mind.”

“Are you saying our friend has gone crazy?” Jennifer asked. “What kind of—”

“Once Diamond and Ruby have cleared the chamber of hostiles,” Amethyst continued, interrupting her, “Tony and Clark will approach the portal. At that point, Tony, Ruby will give you your final instructions.”

“Why not give them to me now?”

“In case something goes wrong,” Ruby said. “We may need to change things or think on our feet.”

Tony stood up. Clark followed his lead. Both men unshouldered their weapons.

“Let’s do this shit,” Tony mumbled.

Wade raised his hand. “Um, not to interrupt or anything, but do we get some rifles, too?”

Amethyst shook his head. “We have no weapons for you, unfortunately. As I said, it would be best if you remained here. Keep in hiding behind that rock.” He pointed to a huge rock near a curve in the tunnel. “There’ll be so much commotion, the Dark Ones will barely notice you.”

Susan tugged at Wade’s arm, leading him toward the indicated hiding place. “Come on. It will be fun.”

“You know,” Wade whispered, “I think I liked you better before.”

Jennifer stood rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do. The roaring of the Dark Ones snapped her mind out of her reverie. Impulsively, she reached out to Tony and planted a kiss at the side of his mouth.

“I like that,” Tony said, “but this really ain’t the time, you know?”

“Be careful,” she said. “I don’t understand what’s going on, but whatever it is you have to do, you can do it.”

“Yeah, I can.” Tony looked at her with a faint smile on his face. Jennifer felt something pass between them—it was definitely a strong physical attraction. “And I’ll be back. You just wait here.”

Jennifer stepped back, joining Wade and Susan behind the rock. Diamond nodded at the three scientists. “Be quick now. Hide yourselves.”

Amethyst directed Tony and Clark to move into the shadows with him. Jennifer watched them meld into the darkness. One minute they were there. The next, they weren’t. Ruby switched off her flashlight, plunging the entire cavern into blackness.

Jennifer, Wade and Susan huddled together in the darkness. Jennifer felt Wade’s sour breath hot against her cheek. He was breathing heavily. By contrast, Susan seemed calm—almost stoned. She hummed softly to herself in a lilting, singsong voice.

Jennifer wasn’t sure how long they sat there, hiding behind the rock and listening. Waiting. For long moments, the only sound was the muffled entreaties of the Dark Ones, engaged in their bizarre ritual. Then a series of rapid gunshots exploded, rumbling through the chamber. They flashed in the darkness as another round of shots followed. The Dark Ones screamed in pain, their enraged cries almost drowning out the gunfire.

Jennifer heard Ruby chanting in a loud, strong voice. Jennifer frowned, trying to figure out what language the woman was speaking in. Not English, certainly, nor any other tongue Jennifer was familiar with. This language sounded guttural and old. Primordial.

More gunshots followed and then the Dark Ones began to scream. Jennifer had never heard anything like it, not even during the assault at Peachbottom. The Dark Ones sounded
terrified
. Ruby’s arcane chants grew louder. Seconds later, Jennifer felt a slight breeze against her face, crouched as she was behind the outcropping.

“That’s wind,” Wade whispered. “But we must be way below sea level. How is their wind down here?”

Jennifer opened her mouth to respond, but a rushing sound cut her off. It sounded as if a freight train were barreling down the tunnel. The wind increased, howling as it tossed Jennifer’s hair around her face.

Giggling, Susan clapped her hands. “Wheeeeeee! I wish we had a kite.”

“Quiet,” Jennifer hushed her. “Remember what they said. We need to stay—”

Then, from across the tunnel, Amethyst shouted, “Genova! Arroyo! What are you doing?”

Tony’s gleeful laugh cut through the noise. “Let’s get this party started!”

“Genova,” Amethyst yelled. “Tony, get back here!”

The wind slammed against their hiding space. Jennifer leaned around the rock, trying to determine what was happening. Before she could, however, she heard a clicking sound coming from behind them.

“Um, guys?” Wade gripped both of their arms. “I think we’ve got company.”

Tony felt himself slip into a kind of Zen state as he and Clark charged toward the main cavern. He had heard of the term “Zen” before, of course, and had always dismissed it as nothing more than psychobabble new age bullshit, but he recognized it now, just the same. It was unlike the feeling he’d gotten on past jobs. Before, killing someone— stalking them, tracking them, and then watching the light wane from their eyes as they bled out—that was nothing more than work. Tony had always assumed that a donut maker or assembly line worker approached their jobs with the same feeling. What he felt now was something different. He always felt a sense of heightened awareness right before a hit, but what he was experiencing now was that feeling amplified ten-fold.

A strange, savage wind had risen from seemingly nowhere and roared through the caverns and tunnels, lashing at them like razor wire as they raced headlong toward the fray. Tony felt it pull his lips back from his teeth in a sneer. His hair was blown straight back over his head. His ears and cheeks felt raw, as if he’d been standing outside in the cold for too long.

“What are we doing?” Clark shouted above the din.

“Pissing off Amethyst,” Tony yelled. “Reminding them who’s the fucking boss.”

“You sure about this?”

“They’re up to something, Clark. I don’t know what, but I can feel it in my fucking gut. And with the shit they can do—like Ruby reading our fucking minds—the only advantage we have is being unpredictable. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like putting my destiny in anybody else’s hands.”

“I didn’t take you for the type who believed in destiny, Tony.”

“I don’t. I don’t believe in mind reading or motherfucking magic, either. But here we are anyway. What are you gonna do, you know?”

The two fell silent as they approached the main chamber. The

wind died down as abruptly as it had begun. In the aftermath, Tony noticed two things. The gunfire had stopped, and the big cavern was now glowing brightly. The source of the light was hidden inside the actual room; he couldn’t tell what it was from this vantage point. He could, however, see the shadowed silhouettes of two Dark Ones as they raced from the chamber and ran down the tunnel toward he and Clark. Tony paused long enough to raise his rifle, and then he gunned down both of the creatures while they were still yards away. The rifle grew warm in his hands, even as his palms and fingers grew numb. Tony grinned as the Dark Ones squealed. Their bodies jittered and jerked before collapsing to the floor. Leaping over their still-bleeding corpses, Tony entered the chamber. Clark was right behind him. The two men stopped in their tracks and surveyed the scene.

Tony’s first thought was that somebody had unleashed a hurricane inside the cavern. They stood in a massive, cathedral-like chamber. Cracks and fissures lined the walls, and boulders and debris were strewn about, as if a partial avalanche had just occurred. Dust still hung in the air. Scores of dead Dark Ones littered the large space. It appeared as if most of them had been slammed repeatedly into the walls or ceiling. Their bodies looked crushed. A few had been impaled on obscene, monstrous statues, twelve feet high and carved in the image of things that should have never been imagined, let alone exist in real life. Others among the corpses appeared to have been shot to death, which seemed an almost archaic method of execution when compared to the damage the rest had sustained under the windstorm.

The Dark Ones weren’t the only ones to die inside the chamber, however. At first, Tony couldn’t figure out what he was staring at. It took his mind a moment to adjust, and then he recognized the torn, bloody mess at his feet as Ruby’s torso—minus her head, arms, legs, clothing, and skin. Her appendages had been tossed around the room, and her head lay in one corner. Her sightless eyes seemed to be staring at him. He wondered if she could still read his mind, even after death?

Diamond stood in the center of the chamber. His feet were spaced apart and his shoulders hunched. He’d balled his hands into fists and was digging them into his thighs as he—well, Tony wasn’t exactly sure
what
the big man was actually doing. Diamond stood facing four Dark Ones. Three of them were quite large. The fourth was even larger in stature, standing a good two feet above the others. It seemed older and somehow more regal. The three younger lizard-men stood just behind the older one; Tony assumed it was the leader. It and Diamond seemed to be engaged in some silent battle of wills. They stared at one another, their faces inches apart, eyes unblinking, jaws set, teeth bared. Both man and Dark One trembled slightly, as if under a great strain. Sweat poured down Diamond’s forehead and face.

“Jesus,” Clark whispered beside him, “what the hell is
that
?”

Beyond Diamond and the Dark Ones was a rectangular pool of water, floating sideways in the air. It reminded Tony of a giant salt-water fish tank with no fish inside of it. The light in the cavern seemed to be coming from the portal, as well. He still couldn’t determine the source. As near as he could tell, something that looked like a miniature sun was floating in the middle of the water. As he stared into the rectangle, his headache increased. Clark winced, obviously feeling the effects, as well. Water splashed out of the rectangle and onto the cave floor.

“That must be the portal,” Tony muttered. “There’s an entire fucking ocean on the other side. And that light— whatever it is. It’s almost like this is a window into another world.”

“That’s very apt,” Amethyst said, walking up behind them.

Tony and Clark turned to face him. The younger man was clearly seething with anger. His eyes flicked to Ruby’s mangled corpse, then to Diamond. He quickly appraised the silent struggle, and then turned back to Tony and Clark.

“Should we help him?” Clark asked.

“No. You’ll notice that the other Dark Ones are hanging back. Diamond must battle the Elder alone. Were any of us to interrupt them right now, the results could be disastrous.”

“The fuck are they doing? Having a psychic battle?”

“That’s not important, Tony. What is important is what the fuck
you
are doing. Do either of you realize just how badly you could have jeopardized things by running off like that?”

“We wanted to help,” Tony said, eyeing the Dark Ones uneasily. Their attention was focused on their leader—the large lizard Amethyst had referred to as the Elder. “I mean, what the fuck happened in here? Ruby and Diamond came in here, and obviously, there was some kind of big battle. But when Clark and I get in here, it’s just Diamond and that old Dark One having a staring contest. What happened? What was all that stuff we heard?”

“What occurred in this chamber was not meant for human eyes,” Amethyst said. “Believe me when I tell you that you’re both better off not knowing. You can see the aftermath for yourself. Had you rushed in here a moment earlier, your corpses would be decorating the walls, as well.”