Nen (28 page)

“Oh dear, I think Howard is dead!” Paul cried. He dropped his walkie talkie while he fumbled to point aim his flame thrower at the beast which was watching him from a distance.

“What did you say?” Nelson voice crackled from the walkie talkie on the ground, “What’s happening, Paul?”

Sarah thought she saw Nen smile but she quickly brushed away that ridiculous thought. Her heart sank when she saw the bleeding arm in Nen’s gaping mouth. It no doubt belonged to Howard. The ‘smiling’ creature turned and headed back to the barracks.

Johnny put down his rifle and stammered, “Is…is that Howard?”

Sarah nodded slowly.

The three stunned tourists stared blankly at a wispy mist that was starting to invade the parade ground. Silence hung in the air for a few minutes before Paul murmured something to himself. It sounded like, “Let’s head out. Let’s go.”

“Huh? Did I hear you correctly? What do you mean?” Johnny asked with a puzzled look.

Paul threw the flame thrower to the ground and shrugged his strained shoulders. Then he turned towards Johnny and Sarah and said clearly and calmly, “This tunnel leads to the surface. I say we get off this sick place now.”

“What?” Sarah was taken aback, “Are you serious? What about the others?”

“It’s every man for himself, Sarah.” Paul said sardonically.

“I can’t believe this, Paul! The others, we can’t just leave them!” Sarah cried, turning her gaze to Johnny, “Johnny, say something!”

Johnny couldn’t withstand Sarah’s blazing stare. He lowered his face until his chin almost touched his chest. At first he wanted to say something but he held back. Then he said slowly, “Sarah, this is it. Paul is right. We should save ourselves now.” He pointed a finger at the gap in the rocks and said, “This hole is not big enough for the beast to squeeze through. Let’s go.”

Sarah was totally appalled by the words of the two men whom some of them had looked upon as their leaders or heroes in this dangerous place. She took a few steps back with disappointment creeping all over her face. “This is sad. I am going back for them even if it cost me my life, I can’t leave the children there and ran away myself. Just can’t do it.”

“Sarah, please come with us.” Johnny pleaded as he watched Paul squeezing through the crack and disappeared.

“Then good luck to you. I’m going back for the others.” Sarah turned and left.

“Hey, Sarah! Are you crazy? The beast is still out there!” Johnny shouted at her.

She did not turn back. She just ran towards the two-story building as fast as she could.

Johnny took a last look at the vast military facility before he stooped and clambered into the dark burrow at the lower right corner of the arched entrance.

Every man for himself! It’s true! For us to survive, we have to learn how to protect ourselves first. I can’t blame Paul for saying that but I just can’t bring myself to do it. It’s not because of my religion or upbringing or anything noble. It’s just fulfilling a promise to the others that I will be back. Yes, it’s just that.
Sarah’s mind was racing as fast as her legs while she dashed across the parade ground. She was about to reach the door to the building when she heard a loud thud behind her. She whirled around and peered hard at the far away arched entrance.
It’s the creature again! It’s at the arched entrance trying to crash through the hole that Johnny had punctured using the TBM a while ago! The same hole that would lead all of them to the surface!
Sarah watched the hideous creature pull itself backwards and then lunged hard at the rocks that lined the hole. Another loud thud reverberated across the parade ground. That was followed by the sound of crumbling rocks. Sarah couldn’t see clearly as she was standing far away. There was a cloud of dust where the creature was. When the dust almost settled, Sarah could vaguely see a glowing green tail wriggling and disappearing into a now larger hole at the arched entrance.

CHAPTER 46

Paul’s flashlight was flickering non-stop in the dark tunnel. It casted sporadic bars of white light on the steep tarmac that extended all the way up at an uncomfortable angle. Paul slapped the flashlight with his right palm and the light became more permanent, even though it sort of dimmed slightly every few seconds.

“This sucks, Paul.” Johnny said, walking briskly alongside Paul.

“Come on, get over it,” Paul said, “We’ll be out soon.”

“I can’t believe I let her go back by herself.” Johnny murmured.

“Well, it’s her choice, that’s what she asked for.” Paul said impassively. He let out a long sigh and continued, “Anyway, Howard is dead and I hope Nelson can take care of the others while we seek help.”

“We shouldn’t leave Nelson.” Johnny said.

“Don’t worry, Johnny. As long as he stayed behind the iron door, he’s fine. The creature is really afraid of the red objects on the door.” Paul said, his voice echoed up the steep tunnel.

Johnny came to a halt and his body stiffened.

“What?” Paul asked, jerking to a stop.

“Shhh.. you hear that?” Johnny said.

Paul could barely hear a soft rumbling noise behind him. It sounded like tumbling rocks at the arched entrance where they came from.

For a moment, the two wide-eyed men stood absolutely still at that spot half a mile from the arched entrance below, fastening their gaze at a faint light down slope. It was very dark and they couldn’t even see anything beyond ten meters. The only thing they could see was that tiny speck of light glimmering at the base of the tarmac slope.

“Something’s not right. We’d better hurry.” said Paul as he picked up his pace again.

Craaaash!!
A loud rumble rattled the silence of the sloping tunnel and puffed bone chilling sensations into the two scudding men. They darted uphill as fast as they could.

“It’s behind us!” Johnny hollered.

Paul looked over his shoulder and he could see a dark shape with a greenish glow coming real fast at them. “Shit!” he yelled.

“Don’t look back, just run!” Johnny shouted at Paul.

For a brief moment, Paul had forgotten that he no longer had any weapons with him. He had left the flame thrower outside the arched entrance! The only way to stay alive now was to out run the beast!

As that morbid thought sank into his mind, he opened up his strides but lost his balance after a few yards. Like a toddler, he fell on his belly and dropped his flashlight. Batteries spiraled out of the flashlight and the tarmac tunnel instantly turned to pitch black. Getting up, Paul could hear the flashlight rolling downslope towards the pursuing creature.

“We’re...doomed, Johnny.” Paul cried, picking up his pace.

“No, I still have the red cloth on my head,” Johnny shouted, using all his might to clamber upslope. “The creature is afraid of red objects! You said so yourself?”

Paul halted his run against gravity and he laughed a frightening laugh. “But it’s total darkness here, Johnny. Can you see my red scarf in the dark?”

Johnny paused to look at Paul. He could barely see Paul’s outline in the dark. He threw his gaze upslope but he couldn’t see the end of the tarmac or anything. Then he gazed downslope and he froze. The menacing creature was approaching the two of them at great speed.

“God damn it.” Johnny moaned. And he decided not to run anymore.

CHAPTER 47

“You have to eat something.” John Chan clapped his wife’s shoulder as he passed a piece of mango to her. “Save it for the kids, John.” Mrs. Chan muttered, her eyes were hollow and listless. They were sitting on some crates tucked at one side of the command center office where old book shelves lined an entire wall. “Mummy, I don’t want to leave this room, I’m scared.” Pete said, cuddling up to his mum. “Dad, the beast had even killed Howard. We are all going to die here!” “No, Pauline, we are not going to die.” John looked up and his eyes met Nelson’s. Nelson was holding a rifle in his hands and he was pacing around in the room. But he stopped when he saw John’s intrusive glare.

“Well, that’s the last thing Paul said about Howard,” Nelson said, “I can’t reach Johnny or Paul or Howard on their walkies. Something must have happened to them.”

“Whatever it is, you shouldn’t let my kids know about what happened to Howard.” John muttered.

“Are you serious? This ain’t a big room, John. Anyone can hear me even if I am whispering.” Nelson rebutted.

“And I’ve given up on that hopeless radio system. Can’t reach nobody with that junk. I think we have to go, John.” Nelson said gloomily.

John shook his head gently and gave a forced smile.

“Look, there’s barely any food or water left in this room. If we don’t leave this place soon enough, we may not have any strength left to get ourselves out of this cave alive.” Nelson raised his voice.

“Nelson, come here. Look at this.” Mami-san called out from the other end of the room. She had been rummaging the old shelves and cabinets and she came across a piece of red fabric about the size of a paperback novel. Nelson rested his rifle against a work desk and hurried over.

“Do you think we can tear it into six equal pieces? One little piece for each of us here?” Mami asked.

“I don’t think that would work, Mami-san. Probably we can cut this into three pieces, but I can’t guarantee all would be equal in size.” Nelson said cheekily and his lips quirked up into a grin. He then fished out a hatchet from a duffel sack, place it over the fabric and used its sharp blade as a cutter to tear off the fabric.

Before Nelson and Mami-san could complete their new task on hand, a sharp metallic clank sent chills down their backs. It was the sound of a rifle being loaded and cocked.

“Give me the red cloth, Nelson.” It was John’s raspy voice.

Nelson and Mami turned around and they saw John pointing the rifle at them. “Put down the rifle, John.” Nelson said, watching the rifle quivered in John’s trembling hands.

“I heard what you said, there will only be three pieces.” John howled.

“We can make smaller pieces. Everyone here will get one piece of red, John.” Nelson explained.

“Stop lying! Just give everything to me!” John yelled. His hands were shuddering more intensely now. Mrs. Chan and her wide-eyed children stood behind John and they looked stunned as well.

“Okay, okay, here’s all the cloth. Careful about the rifle, man.” Nelson held all the torn pieces of red fabric in one hand and extended that hand to John.

“Sorry about this, Nelson. I have to protect my family.” John said with a quavering voice.

The moment when his fingers contacted the red fabric in Nelson’s extended hand, he felt a strong pull on his rifle and the next thing he knew, he was struggling on the floor with Nelson. Nelson was trying to wrestle the rifle from him and he fought back. The two men started throwing punches at each other.

“Stop it, John” Mrs. Chan shouted at her husband.

“No, Nelson, stop!” Mami-san cried, stepping forward to stop the fight.

The tussle between John and Nelson lasted for about ten seconds. It ceased abruptly when an explosive sound erupted in the enclosed room that was filled with shrieks and screams. A shot had been discharged from John’s rifle!!

“Oh my god.” Mrs. Chan face turned white as she watched Mami-san drop to the ground. There seemed to be blood coming out of her ear but she couldn’t be too sure about that.

John released the rifle and Nelson pushed him away. “Look what you’ve done, asshole.” He scampered over to Mami-san who was groaning in pain.

“Mami-san, are you alright?” Nelson asked, shaking her gently with his hands.

“What..what happened?” Mami-san murmured.

“So sorry, Mami-san. It’s our fault. The rifle misfired. And a bullet just…just happen to graze your right cheek.” Nelson said as he examined her face closely.

“Is…is she okay?” John stammered.

“Well, if the bullet strayed one more centimeter to the left, Mami-san would be dead.” Nelson said sarcastically, without looking at John. There was a superficial abrasion that stretched across Mami-san’s right cheek. Otherwise, she was fine. Nelson took some cotton wool and antiseptic salve from the rusty tin box that was salvaged from the military clinic on the first day they arrived at the barracks. He applied the salve on Mami-san’s abrasion gingerly and secured some cotton wool over it.

“You’ll be fine, Mami-san.” Nelson said softly.

Mami-san nodded.

“Thanks Nelson,” she got up with Nelson’s help and sank into an arm chair beside the desk. “Please guys, stop fighting.”

Nelson picked up the rifle on the floor and ejected its magazine.

“I’m pretty sure this will not kill the beast. But in the wrong hands, it will kill one of us.” Nelson waved the rifle magazine in the air and glared hard at John Chan and his family.

A knock on the iron door made everyone jumped. In one swift action, Nelson yanked the magazine back into the rifle and pointed it at the door.

A familiar voice came through the door. “Open up! It’s me!”

“It’s Dr. Sarah, Nelson. Quick, open the door.” Mami-san said.