Robert W. Walker (25 page)

"An evil man?" asked Kendra.

"He believes so of himself."

Wiz corrected Stroud to a degree. "As scientists we have precious little to base moral judgments--"

"He has made the judgment for us," Stroud said.

"Locked himself for all eternity in the cube of the skull," said Wiz, understanding.
"Soul transfer?"

"Something
like
that, but he also took what remained of the others who'd succumbed to the zombie rule of the creature."

"But how did
Esruad
fall under its influence?"

"Damned thing is powerful and devious. Don't know the full story, but it had to do with a woman."

"Sure, blame it on that woman Eve," said Kendra.

"
Esruad
blames himself and the weakness of his race."

"And at the moment this thing in the pit believes you are
Esruad
?" asked Leonard.

"Yes, and we intend to use that to our advantage. Furthermore we know its name, and we have the crystal skull."

"That won't be enough--not against this thing," said Leonard.

"We have to trust that
Esruad
knows what he is doing," Stroud replied.

"Trust a voice encased in a crystal skull that only you can hear?" asked Kendra. "I think I'll trust to my anti-serotonin drugs, if you don't mind, Stroud."

He met her eyes and saw the sincere confusion there. "Yes, of course, we must rely on our own devices as well ... by all means."

Leonard went to a corner, the fear of returning to the pit under any circumstances twisting his insides. Wiz, too, was frightened of the prospect, but he went to Leonard and said, "It is a thing we must do, Samuel ... you know this."

-14-

Abe Stroud had held on to the helicopter and they boarded on the rooftop of the museum, making a stop at the hospital, where they picked up protective suits, the darts, dart guns and the medication required. One of the doctors, something of a genius, according to Kendra, had created a gaseous form of the medication and this was placed hastily into spray canisters that the "space" men returning to the buried ship could carry on their backs. Stroud never let go of the skull, keeping it always in his sight.

"How're we going to get past the army of zombies bent on tearing us limb from limb?" asked Kendra. "Have you seen any of the TV footage on what's been happening out there at that damnable construction site?"

She took him into a waiting room where a TV was running the horrible scenes over and over as if even the inanimate electronic set itself could not believe the pictures it was conveying. Some shots from a helicopter, obviously, showed the extent of the horror. The zombie horde had become like one animal, working in unison as the deadly limbs of the creature at its center, both protecting and feeding the mouth. In the dark, it looked like a bottom feeder, buried in the ocean floor, sending out rays of spiked tentacles to draw in its food. The most horrible sight was that of the live bodies being transported from the perimeters of the limbs to the center, disappearing down and down into the thing.

"Christ, we've got to end this thing now! The time's come!" Stroud shouted when he realized that Leonard and Wiz were standing just behind him, both men mesmerized by the sight on the TV screen.

"How the
hell're
we going to get past that?" Wiz asked virtually the same thing as Kendra had.

Leonard was simply frozen by the sight, mumbling, "My God ... my God..."

"We'll get in. They'll part for us. It will know we are coming in of our own accord and it will like
that
," said Stroud. "It will see us as self-sacrificing, as it had
Esruad
."

"You're sure of that?"

"Yes, I am." He went to Kendra and said, "You stay behind here. There's no need for you to--"

"Oh, no!
I'm in, Stroud, for better or worse."

"Kendra, there's no reason for you to go in there."

"Let Dr. Leonard
stay
back. He's obviously distraught!"

"And have you take my place?" asked Leonard. "I may be afraid, but I'm not so afraid that I would send you in my place."

"Stroud is right. We've already been exposed to this evil, the three of us. We've come away from it not unscathed, but we've shown it that we have the courage of our convictions,"
Wisnewski
began. "Dr. Stroud's right. If we are to beat this thing, we must show some backbone."

"We entered the pit earlier," said Stroud, his hands outstretched to her in a supplicating gesture. "Kendra, we are marked, but you are not. We
must
go back. We have no choice. Not even Leonard has a choice, not if he wants this thing utterly and completely ended and out of his system."

Leonard nodded like a man who has been told that a son has died, not wishing to accept it, but not knowing any other way. "I was infected. It was inside me, using me up..." He was remembering the dark night of the soul imprisoned within him by the evil. He was remembering the hole he had fallen into, the feeling of being trapped and held down and used. He'd been an insect pinned to a wall.

Wisnewski
, too, was recalling the horror of having had his mind and body taken over by something that had crawled around inside him. "We have to go back ... to finish it."

"Or it will surely return to finish us."

"You'll need medical help down there," Kendra said. "It's almost a certainty. And no one knows the safety features of the protective suits as well as I."

"I'm telling you it's too dangerous, Kendra."

She glared at Stroud. "I don't need your condescension or patronage, Stroud, or
your
O.K. for that matter. You do, however, need me. You need my damned formula, and where it goes, I go." She held up one of the large dart guns and a vial of the dark medicine she and her team had created to combat the zombies.

Stroud looked from her to his watch and back again. Time was ticking away, and with each minute more people were dying outside. He feared desperately for Kendra. She had no idea what she was letting herself in for, and should something happen to her...

"
Dammit
, Stroud, let's do it!" she shouted.

Wisnewski
frowned and Leonard said, "She may be of valuable assistance, and we'll need all the assistance we can get, Dr. Stroud."

Stroud saw that he was outnumbered now. "All right, all right ... but you stick close to me, do you understand?"

"Absolutely."

"Everyone ready?"

"Let's be on our way," said Wiz.

"Before I break down," added Leonard.

Stroud instructed them all to get their gear up to the waiting helicopter immediately.

* * * *

As the helicopter hovered over the sight of the army of zombies that continued to draw innocent people down and down into the hole at its center, Stroud and the others stared in rapt fear and awe at the power this evil wielded from below. "We're going in!" shouted Stroud.

"It's madness to attempt it!" shouted Leonard from the rear, seated beside Wiz.

"The skull will protect us!"

"For how long?"

"For as long as it takes! Dr. Leonard, you will not be returned completely
to
normal unless you face this thing."

"I may be dead before I'm cured of my fear, Stroud."

Wisnewski
tried to console his friend in the rear of the chopper while Kendra Cline stared from the crystal skull on the console of the helicopter, in plain view, to the horror below. As she did so a light began to grow from within the skull and the light gained in intensity and vigor as they neared their destination. The light shone down on the colony of zombies like a strobe beacon and suddenly there was a halt to the frantic,
insectlike
work of the zombies, and then they stopped altogether.

"I see it, but I don't believe it," she told Stroud.

"So far, so good," he replied, setting the machine down in the midst of the mob. They were completely surrounded by thousands upon thousands of zombies.

"They will let us pass," Stroud tried to assure the others, who were not fighting at their seatbelts to step from the false safety of the bubble they sat behind.

"Can we be sure of that?" asked a worried Wiz.

"Yes, now hurry!" Stroud's voice was tinged with a mix of anxious frustration and a healthy fear of his own as he climbed from the pilot's seat, taking the skull firmly in one hand, his helmet in another. They all got out, strapping on and snapping down the last remaining portions of their protective wear as the zombies looked on in wide-eyed silence, a green eerie glow about them where their own eyes emanated a strange light. They were a ragtag army of people from all walks, all ages and all manner of dress, their clothes torn, soggy and soiled,
many
wearing clothes stained with blood. Kendra tried to keep her mind focused on Stroud and the skull, as did Wiz, pulling at Leonard to stay close.

The zombies, whose bodies formed the final barricade around the pit leading to the ship, parted as they neared them; they did so in mechanical, silent fashion. "Very obliging," said Stroud.

"Too obliging," replied Kendra.

"Once inside, we will have the upper hand," Stroud promised them all.

"What's to keep these fiends from sealing us inside with this evil?" asked Leonard.
"None, none at all!
I'm going back!"

Leonard bolted for the helicopter, pulling free of Wiz. Stroud rushed after and the wall of zombies moved in at them as Stroud caught Leonard. The zombies began their eerie chant and Stroud held the skull overhead, reflecting the green glow in a concentrated beam, changing their
"
Ummmmmmmmmmmm
"
into a chant of
"
Esss-ruuuuuu-aaaaaaaad
,
Esss-ruuuuuu-aaaaaaaad
"
and making them once again part for the party of fearful scientists. "They won't let us go now, Leonard," Stroud shouted over the din. "There's only one way out of this hell now; only one way--down the damned thing's throat."

Wiz and Kendra supported Leonard as they again moved toward the mouth of the Hell before them. It appeared blacker now than it had been when they had first entered it only a few days before. So much had happened since then; so many people had died, and so many others had been transformed into executioners.

"Move along ... move along," Stroud ushered the others in and Kendra had the unsettling thought that this vile creature was possibly much more cunning than they'd
given
it credit for, and that Stroud was as yet under its influence the way he was herding them into this black inferno. He looked at her suddenly, as if reading her mind, and said, "Trust me, Kendra ... trust me."

"Yeah ... I'm trying ... trying."

The light in the skull had dimmed as soon as they came within stepping distance of the pit itself. Part of the bow of the ship was visible here and Wiz placed a shaky hand on it, drawing his protected, gloved hand along the petrified remnants.

"Where do we go from here, Stroud?" he asked.

"The geographic center of the ship, but getting to it will be difficult to say the least. We can expect obstacles thrown up along our way."

"Obstacles?" asked Leonard.