Submerged the labyrinth.., p.7
Submerged: The Labyrinth, Book 2, page 7
I am not fucking going out like this, she thought.
Her throbbing lungs and pounding heart said otherwise.
Her life didn’t flash before her eyes like it did in books and movies, but she did have a memory. In her mind, she saw herself shimmying across a ladder that was perched precariously between the New Jersey homes of Don DeSantos and Jim Thurmond’s ex-wife, all in an effort to escape the murderous undead that swarmed the neighborhood. The two men and Jim’s son, Danny, had already made it across. Frankie was halfway there when she fell into a swimming pool below. She’d never been more certain that she would die than she had in that moment. Nothing—not bad heroin, violent pimps, the ravenous undead, or the death of her unborn baby—had ever left her feeling more hopeless and helpless than she had at that moment, during her fall.
She remembered briefly considering letting herself drown, rather than be torn to pieces by the zombies, but in the end, she’d fought back against the seemingly impossible odds, and she’d survived.
Gritting her teeth, Frankie resolved to do the same thing now. Besides, if the steadily-deepening aches in her chest and head were any indication, then drowning was painful as hell. She intended to avoid feeling that.
Drifting helplessly, she grabbed a still-standing utility pole that hadn’t been snapped off by the force of the tsunami. She clung to it, wrapping her arms and legs tight as the current tugged at her. Tattered rooftops, uprooted trees, crushed cars and other debris churned past, being sucked out to sea. So did the other people. Frankie closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see their horrified, pleading expressions.
She wondered where the others were. Could Bloom or Sarah be one of those bodies surging past her, disappearing into the depths? And what about LeHorn, Teddy and Tony? What had happened to them? And the Exit and... Frankie couldn’t remember the kid’s name. Harry? Henry? Where had they gone?
Her ears began to ring. Frankie opened her eyes again and realized that the current had subsided. Cautious, she unwrapped her legs from around the pole. She felt a pull, but compared to what it had been moments ago, it was gentle.
As she let go of the pole and kicked for the surface, Frankie saw one more body flitting through the water.
No oxygen left, she thought. I’m hallucinating.
She had to be, because the swimmer had a tail like a mermaid.
ONE OF THE things that had remained constant when Amun had merged Nelson LeHorn’s other selves into one was his deep fear of water.
He’d taken his family to Ocean City, Maryland once, when the kids were still in elementary and middle school. Matty, Claudia and Gina had loved it. They would have stayed in the ocean for the entire weekend, if he and his wife had allowed it. Every morning, they’d waited impatiently to go to the beach, barely holding still long enough to put sunscreen on, and had then dashed across the sand and plunged into the surf. His wife, Patricia, would occasionally go down to check on them, and dip her toes into the water. But LeHorn had remained on the beach blanket. That wide, unbroken expanse of water made him uneasy for reasons that he couldn’t explain. He’d eyed it warily during the entire vacation.
Something else that had made him uncomfortable was crossing the Susquehanna River, and yet he’d done so every year, making an annual pilgrimage to Walnut Island, where his mother was imprisoned as a thing of stone, transmuted by his jealous father. That wasn’t something that had happened in each of his lives, but it had happened in his. Other than Patricia’s death, it was the thing that haunted him the most. He’d always hoped to find a way to return his mother to normal. Now, he finally had the knowledge and ability to do so.
But you aren’t going to do her much good if you drown, he thought.
He sputtered as a noxious wave splashed his face. He tasted oil and other chemicals on his lips. His skin began to tingle. Glancing around, he searched for something above water—a structure he could swim to and shelter upon until the water subsided.
He blinked rain from his eyes, and then it occurred to him that the water probably wouldn’t subside. Teddy and Sarah had made that clear. This rain wouldn’t end until the world had ended, consumed by the Great Deep. Despite how it looked, the world wasn’t actually flooding. Instead, it was being absorbed by that other dimension. The two were merging.
Treading the surface, he looked around again, desperate for anything to grab hold of. Even a tree would be preferable to just floating out here. After a moment, LeHorn spotted movement ahead of him. Something was cutting through the water. Squinting, he peered closer.
It was a sleek, blackish-gray dorsal fin.
And it was barreling toward him.
“WE NEED A PLAN,” Teddy said.
“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “We do.”
Teddy stared out over the city, marveling at how quickly it had all changed. While the sea had finally grown calm again, it had also moved farther inland and was still climbing higher as the rain continued to fall. Below them, the one and two-story structures were completely submerged, along with the streets themselves. Violent waves slapped against the sides of the building they stood on. He turned his head, searching for the horizon, but it was lost in the mist. Teddy shivered, and then turned back to his companion.
“So...what is our plan?”
“How the fuck should I know, Teddy? You’re older than me. You’re supposed to have wisdom.”
“And you were the one yelling about me running off without a plan,” Teddy countered. “I figured you had one.”
Tony shrugged, turning away, and Teddy realized that the younger man was crying. Slowly, he reached out and touched his shoulder. Tony flinched, but he didn’t pull away from the gesture.
“Hey,” Teddy said softly. “Are you okay?”
Tony nodded, still not looking at him. “Yeah. I just...the fucking futility of it all, man. I guess it’s catching up with me. What the fuck are we doing? You know?”
“I know.”
“And what the fuck are we gonna do? I meant what I said before. I’m still focused on the mission. But I’ve got no fucking idea how to go about it.”
“Well, I reckon the first thing we need to do is get out of this rain. We’re not going to be much good saving the universe if we get pneumonia. Let’s get off the roof.”
Tony gestured below. “The water...”
“It hasn’t reached the upper levels yet. My guess is it won’t for a while.”
“I thought you said the process was happening faster here than it did on your world.”
“Things are happening faster,” Teddy admitted. “But it’s still going to be a while before the water rises high enough to submerge this building. Let’s get inside, catch our breath, get dry, and then try to figure this thing out.”
“Get dry?” Tony clasped his arms around himself as they walked toward the stairwell. “I don’t feel like I’ll ever be dry again.”
“It feels that way,” Teddy agreed. “The last few months of my life were spent huddled in this sort of weather. Until Amun collected all of us, I’d actually forgotten what it felt like to be truly dry.”
“And the rain never fucking stops? Not even for a few minutes?”
“It didn’t on my world. Global super-storms blanketed the planet. Tsunamis like this one. Hurricanes. Thunderstorms. Some cities were gone in the first few days. Others took a much longer time. But everything flooded, eventually. And the rain never stopped. But what I didn’t know then...what I didn’t know until after that procedure in Amun’s chamber, is that our world wasn’t just flooding. It was being absorbed by the Great Deep.”
“Yeah,” Tony replied. “I don’t know how the fuck the two of us are supposed to stop that. I mean, this R’lyeh or the Great Deep or whatever the fuck it’s called—that’s another dimension, absorbing this one. That’s a big difference from just getting in a gunfight with Kandara’s followers.”
Opening the stairwell door, Teddy shook his head, and gestured at Tony to go first. When they were both inside, he shut the door behind him. It was dark in the stairwell. Outside, they heard the wind and rain pelting the building.
“Did you have any experience with any of this before?” Teddy asked.
“The Great Deep?” Tony nodded. “Not to the extent that you and Sarah did, but yeah. Several of my other selves fought these fucking things called the Dark Ones. They were like lizard people or something. They had a connection to that place. They worshiped this same tentacle-faced fucker—Leviathan. And once, I stopped Leviathan before he could come through.”
“By yourself?”
“Well, no…I had some help.”
“The Great Deep is Leviathan’s home,” Teddy said. “A level composed entirely of water.”
“Any idea how to stop this level from being pulled into it?”
“No,” Teddy admitted. “I guess destroying Leviathan or banishing him to the Void might do the trick.”
“So, how do the worms figure in?”
“Two separate things. I guess Behemoth and Leviathan enjoy working together. They don’t always. When we were in Amun’s chamber, I saw realities where they worked independently of each other. But I reckon maybe they can get things done faster as a team?”
“Are they still going to be a factor now, with all the flooding?”
“Count on it,” Teddy said. “We make it out of this building and find dry land, we’ll need to be mindful of them. Trust me, drowning is better than being dinner for one of those worms.”
“Do bullets work on them?”
Teddy nodded. “Yes.”
“Then I’ll be fine.”
“There’s something else you need to watch for. Something they bring with them—a white fungus. It looks like fuzz.”
“A fungus?”
“It grows on anything organic. And once you get it on you...well, it takes you over. Turns you into a sort of drone. You go around infecting others until eventually you liquefy and become just more water.”
“Fuck me.”
“Yeah.”
“And your liquified remains just get absorbed by the Great Deep, too?”
“I reckon so.”
“Hell of a way to go.”
In the dark, it was difficult for Teddy to see Tony, but he heard the younger man’s wet hair as he vigorously shook his head, and felt droplets of water spray through the air. When Tony spoke again, his voice was different. He sounded confident and assured.
“Okay. You wanted a plan? I got a plan. We can’t just stand here waiting for the water to cover this building. We can’t swim without getting pulled out to sea. And we don’t have a boat.”
“I reckon that about sums things up.”
“Then I vote we—”
Tony paused as they both heard a new sound—a rumbling, staccato whir. It was distant at first, but quickly grew closer, until the noise drowned out both the wind and the rain. The walls of the stairwell vibrated from the sound.
“That’s a fucking helicopter,” Tony shouted. “The hell with my plan. That’s what we need!”
Teddy shoved the door open, and they barged back out onto the rooftop. The sudden change from dark to light blinded him for a moment, but when he raised his head and shielded his eyes, he saw it hovering above them—a helicopter. Teddy thought back to when he’d first met Sarah. She had arrived in a helicopter crash. She’d survived that. He wondered if she could still be alive down there, somewhere amidst the flooded town.
Tony charged across the rooftop, shouting and waving his arms. The pilot circled back around and hovered over the building. Whooping, Tony ran back to Teddy and hugged him so hard they both nearly toppled over. The younger man grinned.
“A fucking helicopter,” he shouted over the noise of the rotors. “We’re saved!”
Still thinking of Sarah, Teddy allowed himself to feel a glimmer of hope.
THE FLYING carnivorous fish dove beneath the surface.
“Shit.” Bloom looked down at Sarah. “Can you move?”
She nodded, blinking raindrops from her eyes.
“Can you swim?” Bloom asked.
“Yes, but I’m still a little woozy.” Groaning, Sarah sat up and gently touched the back of her head. “Where’s Frankie?”
Instead of responding, Bloom scanned the water all around them, looking for the flying fish. The breeze stung his salt-encrusted skin. The Volkswagen bobbed and spun, and his stomach spun with it. Fighting back nausea, he peered into the mist. There! A flash of silver burst from the water and hovered just above the surface. Then, the fish darted toward them, coming fast.
“How is this car staying afloat?” Sarah asked. “You think there’s an air bubble inside of it or something?”
“Sarah, listen to me. I need you to get in the water now and swim as far away from me as you can.”
“What?” She sat up further, frowning in concern. “What are you talking about? What’s wrong?”
Bloom pointed. “See those little flying fish? I just watched them strip somebody to the bone in seconds. I’m going to distract them while you get away.”
“That’s a stupid idea. I’ve seen them before, Bloom. They’ll carve us both up.”
“Well, then what do you suggest?”
“We need to shelter in place.”
“Where?” He gestured at the open water.
Sarah patted the car’s roof. “Obviously, there’s air inside. All we have to do is get in there with it.”
“Well, hell. That’s a much better idea than me getting eaten alive. Come on!”
Bloom dove into the water, and tugged at the half-submerged driver’s side door. It wouldn’t budge. Sarah slipped into the water behind him.
“Is it locked?”
“I don’t think so,” he grunted. “But the water is pressing against it.”
Thunder rumbled across the sky again.
“Let me help,” Sarah said.
Treading water, the two of them struggled, pulling on the handle. Bloom glanced up and saw a silver cloud descending from the gray haze. He was about to shout a warning, when the door suddenly gave way.
“Quick,” Sarah urged.
The two clambered inside the floating car. Water flooded the interior, churning through the opening and pooling at their feet. Cursing, Bloom yanked the door, trying to close it. More water surged past him.
“Help me,” he shouted.
Sarah leaned over him and grabbed the handle. The two of them struggled, but the door finally clicked shut, sealing them inside the vehicle. They sank back into the driver and passenger’s seats, breathing hard. Water sloshed around the interior, level with their knees.
Outside, the flying fish surrounded the car, angrily swooping and swarming.
“Can they break the glass?” Bloom asked.
“In time,” Sarah gasped. “I saw them smash through a porthole back on my world, but it took them a while, and it was a concentrated effort by a lot more than this little school out there. I don’t think there are enough of them to break through that windshield.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“We’ve got something else to worry about,” Sarah told him.
“Like how we’re going to get out of here?”
She nodded at the floor of the car. The water had now risen above their waists.
“And like how we’re starting to sink.”
AS THE BLACK dorsal fin zoomed closer, LeHorn was so paralyzed by fear that he stopped treading water. A wave crashed over him, shoving him beneath the surface. Panicked, he opened his eyes underwater and glanced around. That only made his fear worse, because there amidst the debris and chemicals and toxic stew of the tsunami, he could fully see what the fin was attached to—a creature that was half shark and half man. It had the head, body, and tail of a great white shark, but arms and legs like those of a human being. The monster’s eyes displayed a malevolent intelligence, and as it closed the distance between them, the beast grinned, showing row upon row of hideous teeth the size of steak knives.
Thrashing, LeHorn kicked, desperate for air. His head broke the surface, and he gulped a lungful. Then he dove down again, and the creature was upon him. The horrific mouth gaped wide, but rather than biting him, the beast had apparently decided to toy with its prey. It darted around him and slapped LeHorn with its massive tail, knocking the air from his lungs again. Despair rushed in to displace it. This was it. His greatest fear—drowning—was about to be realized. He considered simply holding still, and letting the thing consume him. He wished that he had a gun or a knife—anything to defend himself with.
Then he remembered the Chamber of Spheres, and Amun telling Tony that he would turn each of them into weapons. He’d been so arrogant about that earlier. So self-assured. But now, in this moment of panic, he’d forgotten.
Eyes narrowing, LeHorn watched as his opponent turned, tail lashing back and forth. His ears rang and his vision blurred.
Need air, he thought, and broke once more for the surface.
At first, he didn’t realize that his face was no longer submerged. The rain and the ocean were almost indistinguishable.
He gasped. “As above, so below.”
Armed with more oxygen, he swam downward again.
The man-shark charged. Its intent was clear. There would be no more toying with its prey. This time, it intended to kill.
Legs kicking, LeHorn stretched out his arms and made a series of intricate gestures with his hands, twisting his fingers and etching out sigils in the water. To his amazement, they stayed where he’d drawn them, glowing slightly, while the rest of the ocean churned. Then, the luminescence spread outward from the symbols, forming lines between the symbols, until there was a perfect sphere around him. Logically, he knew that was what was supposed to happen, but since he’d never conducted this spell before now—indeed, he hadn’t even known how to do it until his augmentation by Amun—the effect was still staggering. LeHorn found himself inside a sort of magical bubble. It was filled with water, so he still couldn’t breathe, but he hoped it would stop his opponent.
