Nen (25 page)

Howard finally spoke. “Okay, from now on, all of us will stay together. No one goes anywhere alone.”

“What about Gupta?” Mami-san’s voice was soft but what she said stabbed right into everyone’s heart.

“God Damn it! We forgot about him!” Howard shouted, banging his fist on the side table so hard that the pieces of radio equipment seemed to vibrate for a moment after the impact.

“Good grief, we left him out there.” Mrs. Chan said softly, covering her mouth with her hand.

“Is anyone crazy enough to go get him, any volunteers?” Nelson said, his facial expression almost a sneer.

“What do you think, Paul?” John asked.

Paul got up and started to pace the room back and forth. Then he spoke, “I agree with Howard that we should stay together, who knows, Gupta might be dead by now.”

“But we can’t just leave him there?” Mami said.

Johnny stepped forward and as expected, he supported Paul’s notion.

He said, “Anyone who goes out now will be risking the lives of all of us here. If anything happens to this...this volunteer out there, are we going to risk another life to bring that person in?”

“Johnny is right,” John said, shifting in his seat, “Gupta was injured. He will be a burden for us. I know this is difficult. Maybe we got to live with this for the rest of our lives but who cares? God knows if we can survive this?”

“Come on John, wouldn’t you want us to help you if you were in trouble? You just condemned Mr. Park as if he was cold and ruthless. Look at yourself now!” Sarah questioned, staring fiercely at John Chan.

“It’s different.” John whispered, pulling his gaze away from Sarah.

“I can’t believe this.” Sarah said, waving her hands, “Alright, since it’s every man for himself now, I’ll go.” She paused for a moment and then she muttered, “I’ll be okay. I know what the beast is afraid of.”

CHAPTER 41

The group stirred and Dr. Sarah’s last remark drew all their attentions. Everyone was eager to hear her findings about the creature. Even young survivors like Pete and Pauline.

“Are you sure you understand that creature’s weakness?” Johnny asked disbelievingly.

Sarah nodded slowly, pursing her lips.

“Don’t tell me it is afraid of fire extinguishers?” Nelson asked jokingly.

“No,” Sarah answered, “I know this sound ridiculous but I think the creature is afraid of red color.”

“Red color? You mean…” Paul wanted to ask further but Howard interjected.

“Yes, we think this creature is afraid of things that are red in color.” Howard pointed at Sarah and explained, “Sarah is the only person here wearing a red shirt. That explains why the creature backed off every time she showed up.” He turned to John and pointed at the inconspicuous fire extinguisher on the floor. “And this fire extinguisher that John use to strike the beast is also painted red. Sounds absurd? But Sarah and I had talked about it and we both postulate that this animal could be the legendary beast from the Chinese New Year folklore.”

Howard shifted his gaze back to Sarah and asked, “You guys named this creature ‘Nian Shou’ right?”

Sarah nodded.

“And in Japan, it is called NEN?” Howard turned to Mami-san and looked straight into her eyes.

Mami-san nodded too. Her eyes were saucer-wide.

“But this…this is crazy,” John Chan snarled, “Nian Shou or Nen, whatever you called it, was just an imaginary beast created by the great minds of our ancestors. It’s nothing but a thousand year old legend, a myth.”

“In Japan, the word ‘Nen’ actually also means the Year, or the New Year.” Mami said.

“Yes, according to Chinese beliefs, the hideous beast called ‘Nian’ or ‘Nen’ is closely related to the Lunar New Year festival which Chinese people all over the world celebrated.” Sarah said, scanning the bewildered faces of the people before her, “The legend goes like this. About four thousand two hundred years ago, around 2000 BC, during the end of the Mythical Period and the dawn of the Xia Dynasty in Ancient China, a ferocious creature would appear on the night before the first day of the lunar New Year. It was a mythical creature with a head that resembled that of a lion and a body as strong as a bull. The villagers called the creature ‘Nian. Every once a year when the New Year approaches, this ‘Nian’ creature would prowled and terrorized the villages, eating livestock, crops and even children.”

Sarah paused for a moment when she saw Pete and Pauline listening to her attentively with their little mouths ajar. She smiled and continued, “One fateful night, the villagers noticed that the creature Nian was intimidated by a red shirt hanging on a laundry rack outside a house. The villagers then understood that Nian was afraid of the color red. From that day onwards, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red scrolls on their doors and windows to keep ‘Nian’ away. When night fell, families would gather together and stay indoors. They would pray for the ‘Nian’ beast to go away and they strongly believed that the red scrolls or red paint on their front doors would shield or protect them from that monstrous creature.”

“So does the red stuff really scare the creature away?” Mami-san asked.

“Well, according to tales and legends that were passed down for centuries, it does work. So if the villagers and their families managed to survive the night, they’d come out of their houses the following morning to congratulate their neighbors and friends who had also survived the night, or survived the attack of Nian. In Chinese customs, this is known as ‘Guo Nian’ which means crossing the New Year safely and peacefully. And when people meet in the streets on New Year’s Day, they will cheer and wish each other well by saying ‘Gong Xi, Gong Xi!’ All these remain as Chinese New Year traditions till today.”

“Tell them about the Lion Dance tradition, Sarah.” Howard said, his lips quirked up in half smile.

“Yes, you guys must have seen or heard about lion dance troupes performing during Chinese New Year season right?” Sarah asked.

Almost everyone except Mami-san nodded.

Sarah said, “In fact, there is a school of thoughts which firmly believe that the Chinese lion dance performance was an artistic depiction of the Nian monster, how it moved, how it lurked around hunting for its prey and of course what it is supposed to look like.”

“Come to think of it, our killer beast does resemble the Chinese lion dance portrayal of Nian, especially its ugly horned head.” Nelson said with a forced smile.

“That reminds me of something,” Paul said with a gesture, “When we were exploring the collapsed buildings, we saw a metallic box in that eerie morgue room. The letters N.E.N were engraved on the box. It’s ‘Nian’ in Japanese isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Howard said, “I’d been thinking about it and I believe the Japanese Imperial Army might have been working on some unknown experiments here during World War Two. Something to do with the NEN beast and somehow the experiment backfired.”

“Apparently, the NEN beast went about this facility killing the Japanese soldiers seventy years ago.” Sarah said, “That explains the carnage in the storeroom and the skeletons in the prison cells upstairs. In fact, Mami and I witnessed the remains of that creature in the cook house. A large and heavy set of carcass.”

“So this creature that attacked us is not the same one that wiped out the entire Japanese army?” John asked.

“No, as I just said, we saw the skeleton remains of the creature that killed the soldiers. The beast that murdered my fiancé is a new born.” Sarah said.

“What?” John was astonished but did not probe further.

Johnny shrugged his broad shoulders and said, “All the entrances and exit points of this facility were blown down either to prevent the monster from escaping or to stop anyone from coming in. I got a feeling that the Japanese soldiers had made several attempts to seal up this facility and bury everyone here alive, including the monster.”

“Indeed, some things should stay buried and shouldn’t be disturbed.” Paul said with a cold voice, “The Japanese army had made a terrible mistake seventy years back and now it’s our turn. When we came here, we’d unknowingly unearthed an ancient evil.

“Daddy, are we all going to die here?” Pauline asked, her voice was soft and sweet but what she had asked might be depressingly true.

“No, we’re not going to… die, son.” John said, trying to conceal a face that exuded ambiguity. “We…we can surely find a way out, and we will…we will kill that monster if it comes again.”

Every adult in the grimy room seemed to consensually agree with what John said and they all nodded their heads almost in synch but for Pauline and Pete, it was just another round of pretentious assurance that most adults were so trained to do.

“What’s your plan?” Nelson asked, staring at Howard and waiting for a quick answer.

Howard paused for a moment before saying his words slowly and firmly, “First, we must bring Gupta here. Mami-san and Sarah is right. No one should be left out. Not even the young, the weak or the injured.” He waited for any objections and there was none. Then he continued, “Second, we’d better get ourselves out of this place as soon as possible. Nelson, did you get any response on the radio?”

“We have been sending SOS calls out every 15 minutes from this radio system.” Nelson said, shaking his head, “I can confirm that the signal went out but I can’t tell you why no one has responded.”

He walked to the radio system and adjusted some knobs on its dashboard, then he turned around and said to Howard, “As instructed, I also sent your rescue code out to the United States Pacific command and APAC US Marine forces. Did not get any signal back at all.”

“You’re from the Marines?” Sarah asked, her face beaming with surprise.

Howard nodded, “Ex-marines. I am with the Bureau now. No harm telling you guys now but I hope you can keep that a secret.”

“It’ll be a buried secret if we all die here. Ha...ha...” Paul laughed with a high pitch voice, his face contorted into a peculiar scowl.

“It’s not funny at all, Paul.” Mrs. Chan said, disgusted by Paul’s untimely and immature holler.

“Yeah, next time before you talk, Paul. Please think and be mindful of what you’re going to say. For goodness sake, we have kids here.” John added, tapping a finger on his temple.

Paul’s lips pressed into a thin line. He shot a glance at John and his wife. It was a brief and intense look that sent a shiver down Mrs. Chan’s spine.

At that point, Sarah seemed to remember something and she walked towards Pauline, squatted down and she asked, “Pauline, do you remember what you saw in the room where you passed out?”

“I..I thought it was a dog. It moved very quietly, but I can still hear its footfalls. I have a close look at the creature before I passed out in that room full of ….full of human heads.”

“What did you see, sweetie? Is that the same creature as the one that came into your room?” Sarah asked.

“It’s much smaller in size. Otherwise they looked pretty much the same.” Pauline answered.

“Thanks Pauline!” Sarah got on her feet and was satisfied with Pauline’s observation.

“It’s growing.” Sarah said with a slight smile.

“You mean the creature is growing?” Nelson asked.

“Yes, Howard and I saw piles of shed skins at the elevator landing where Wong was killed. This monster is growing at an alarming rate. I have no idea what kind of species this animal is but to support such rapid growth, it definitely needs to feed.” Sarah said, her eyes looking at some of the people who didn’t seem to understand the implication.

“What Sarah means is that the creature that we are fighting is always hungry.” Nelson said, “And it will come to get us very, very soon. So Howard, what’s the plan?”

“Continue sending SOS signals out using the radio. And don’t forget the US Marine rescue codes.” Howard said, his eyes looking at Nelson at first, and then shifted to meet the eyes of Johnny. He asked, “Johnny, any progress on the drilling?”

“I have been drilling the sealed entrance for hours,” Johnny said with a grin that had been suppressed for a while, “And I found a weak point on the left side of the concealed entrance. Give me another hour and I believe I can bore a crack big enough for us to squeeze through.”

“But how do you expect to continue the tunneling work with the monster out there?” Mami-san asked.

“We will have to try our luck. If the beast is really afraid of red color, we still have a chance.” Howard said. Then he clapped Johnny’s shoulder and asked him, “It’s a big risk for you to stay out there. But the tunneling work is our only hope. What do you think?”

“Howard, I’m scared as shit like all of you even though I’d not seen that creature.” Johnny said with a sigh. “Well, I don’t want to die here. If you ask me, I’m sure I can punch a hole in the rocks in maybe an hour or two, provided the boring machine continues to function properly and if I have no other distractions. But somebody must be there with me.” Johnny said firmly.

“You can leave that to me.” Paul said, “I will be watching your back, brother.”

“Thanks, Paul.” Johnny smiled and nodded. He appeared to be calm but deep inside, he was a bit worried when he observed that Paul’s hands were shaking subtly.

Howard noticed that and he knew what else was needed.