The Gastropoda Imperative, Peter Barns [story books to read txt] 📗

of the living incubator.

He knew what was happening inside him!

Fin might not have been able to scream physically, but mentally he could, and did - over and over. He screamed and prayed that God would kill him before the creatures inside hatched and set about their work of eating him alive.

***

The Sycler slithered away into the darkness on her specially adapted foot, moving at quite a speed for such a big creature. The thin trail of slime she left behind sparkled in the moonlight. She turned aside, seeking the nesting site, her sensitive tentacles guiding her in the darkness. Reaching the edge of the rocks, she waited for a moment, sensing that more prey were coming near, but she’d already laid her eggs and had no more.

The prey the Sycler had chosen to raise her first batch of eggs was perfect. Her offspring would grow quickly - quick growth meant survival for these first Syclers. They differed from those she would lay later. Those would be bigger, good hunters, better suited to bringing her food. The first hatchings would keep the prey alive as long as possible, the anaesthetic oozing from their skins causing selected muscle paralysis. The prey would live, unable to move, so the hatchlings could feed until they were satiated. Then they would leave to gather at the nesting site, food for the Sycler.

Once fed, the Sycler would lay her next batch of eggs and the cycle would restart - but first she would need to find the nest.

***

Kirsti was nearest to the stairs and had a head start on the others as she took them two at a time. She heard Troy calling for her to wait, that they should go together. She ignored him, piling on her speed.

Kirsti was a good athlete and a great sprinter. Troy cursed silently as she disappeared up the steps, her lantern bobbing in her hand. There was no way he could catch her up, she had too much of a lead. He pushed himself harder, scared that somebody was waiting at the top of the steps to kill her. What else could be the cause of those terrifying screams?

Kirsti ran straight passed Fin and out onto the concrete pad, not seeing his crumpled body laying in the rocks. She turned in a circle, eyes tearing as she searched for him. “Fin. Fin,” she screamed as loudly as she could.

“Over here Kirsti.”

Troy’s breathless voice caught her attention and she ran back to him, seeing the sprawled body at his feet.

***

Close Encounters of the Third Kind! Fin knew it would come back to him. That’s what the big concrete slab reminded him of.

The memory faded and Fin heard someone sobbing. He was walking alongside a sparkling lake under brilliant sunshine. Ignoring the sobs, he picked up a stick and threw it in the lake. His dog bounded in after it, splashing him with water. It felt good.

Somewhere, far far away, in the distance, like a whisper on the wind, he heard his name being called. He resisted. He didn’t want to go back. He was happy here.

More water dropped on his face and he realised that they were tears. Someone was leaning over him. He could just see the outline of their head against the star filled sky.

“Fin, oh Fin. Speak to me. Please.” The cool touch of a hand on his forehead. “Don’t die Fin. We’ll get you to a hospital and everything will be okay.”

Fin could hear Kirsti’s sobs now and tried to reach out to her, but his hand didn’t move. He felt empty, floating. The pain had stopped but now it felt as though his brain was detached from his body, floating in space. He could feel, he could hear, he could see. But he still couldn’t move.

Then he felt a quiver in his leg and he ordered his leg to bend. Using every atom of mind control he could muster, Fin sent the command to his leg.

Bend! Bend!

It jerked.

Fin’s hopes soared.

He was getting the use of his leg back.

***

Troy knelt beside Fin, turning his head towards the light. Fin’s face was pale, drained of blood, eyes staring straight ahead, unmoving. Troy felt a jolt of panic and snatched his hand away.

Jesus, Fin was dead!

Troy took a shuddering breath as he felt Kirsti kneel beside him. She was repeating, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” over and over in an undertone, like a mantra.

Blood covered the lower half of Fin’s face, bubbling out through a hole in his cheek.

Bubbling?

Troy looked closer, then ripped Fin’s T-shirt upwards, putting his ear against his friend’s chest. He could hear a slow, erratic heartbeat.

“Is he dead?” Kirsti whispered, touching Fin’s white cheek with the tips of her fingers.

“No,” Troy said. “Quick we have to get him to a hospital.”

“What’s happened. Christ, what’s all that blood on his face?” Lee asked, bending over Troy’s shoulder.

“I think he’s bitten off his tongue,” Troy said. “He must have had some kind of fit. Don’t people bite off their tongues when they have fits?”

“But there’s a big hole in his cheek,” Lee said.

“Well, he must have bitten his bloody cheek as well then,” Troy shouted, loosing it altogether. Holding up his hand, he gulped in a deep breath and shook his head. “Sorry. Sorry Lee.”

Troy leant over and closed Fin’s eyes. Their steady, unblinking stare had begun to unnerve him.

No Troy. No. I can’t see now. Please. Open my eyes again. Don’t leave me in the dark. Why are you doing this to me?

Lyra and Betts appeared at Troy’s side, both gasping at what they saw. Betts turned aside and was sick.

Troy got to his feet. “Give me a hand Lee. Help me get him up. We have to get him back to the boat.”

They soon found that Fin’s foot was stuck between the rocks and it took them a lot a tugging and wrenching to free it. All the time Lee was screaming inside his head, the pain worse than anything he’d ever known. Worse even than the time - as a small child - that he had shut the end of his finger in the hinge side of his mother’s car door. Unable to reach the handle, he could only stand there screaming until his mother heard his shouts and had rushed from the house to free him.

Please God. Please God, stop this. I’ll come to church every Sunday. I promise.

Fin felt his friends hands as they lifted him. Troy and Lee made a fireman’s chair with their arms and the girls helped them get Fin settled on it, his arms around the boy’s shoulders. As they lifted him, Fin’s head brushed against the side of Lee’s neck, opening one of his eyelids.

Oh thank you. Thank you so much Lee.

Being able to see, even in such a restricted manner, made the pain somehow more bearable.

Taking their time, Troy and Lee, negotiated the steep steps down to the beach with their heavy load, finally placing Fin on the sand at the base of the cliffs.

Fin’s one open eye looked up at the sky, and as he lay there, he wondered if there really was a heaven - and if there was, whether he would soon see it.

Chapter 28

Troy and Lee laid Fin on the sand. Kirsti and Betts knelt by his side.

“Lyra, can you give me and Lee a hand getting the boat into the water. Then we’ll get Fin aboard and get the hell out of here.”

“What about the barbecue and stuff?” Betts asked.

Ignoring Betts’ question, Lyra walked over to where Troy was standing, glancing back as she heard Kirsti sobbing quietly.

Troy pointed over the boat. “Okay, stand on the other side with Lee, and when I say push, push as hard as you can. Okay?”

On the count of three, they all shoved, moving the heavy wooden dingy backwards perhaps a metre.

“Okay, again,” Troy shouted. “And this time, push really hard.”

This time they pushed the boat off the beach into the water, but instead of floating, it sank, the waves splashing over the stern board.

“What the—’“ Troy ran around to the far side of the boat, staring at the big hole in the wooden planks.” Give me one of those lamps,” he called to Lee.

Lee brought the lamp over and they all clustered around the dingy.

“Looks like something’s eaten a ruddy great hole in it. Look at the edges. Like they’ve been filed with a heavy rasp,” Lee picked at some splinters.

“Now what the fuck do we do?” Troy said, standing up and kicking the useless dingy.

“Shall I bring over the barbecue yet?” Betts called.

“Will you shut the fuck up about the barbecue, you silly prat!”

Lyra laid her hand on Troy’s arm, feeling the tenseness in his muscles. “She didn’t mean anything by it Troy. She’s just frightened, that’s all. Christ, we’re all frightened.

Troy nodded, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his hoodie.

“One of us will have to swim ashore and get help,” Lyra said.

“That’ll take at least an hour. Fin will probably be dead by then.”

Kirsti heard Troy’s words and burst into a fresh round of sobbing.

“I’ll go back up top and see if I can get a signal on my mobile.”

“No good Troy. I tried that when we were up there earlier. No signal at all.” Lyra’s voice broke slightly as she spoke.

Troy put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Who’s the strongest swimmer,” he asked.

“Be quiet. Listen.” Betts’ voice cut across them. “I can hear something coming.”

***

Fin heard excited voices talking, cursing the fact that he couldn’t move his eye and see what was happening. He concentrated on his leg, urging it to move. He felt a flutter in his chest, then an itch on the side of his neck.

Someone was shouting something about the boat. Fin couldn’t hear what, but Troy’s voice was loud. A shadow flicked across his eye and for a moment Kirsti’s face appeared, then disappeared just as fast. She looked haggard, her cheeks tear-stained.

Fin could hear a steady noise coming from the direction of the sea. Something he’d heard before. Yes, he had it now. It was the faint sounds of an outboard motor. The others didn’t seem to be reacting to it, Troy still shouting about pushing something.

Lee knew he was going to die, but it didn’t frighten him now - just gave him a deep feeling of sadness for all the things he’d miss doing and seeing. He’d taken life as it came, not paying much attention to it, just living for the day. Would it have been any different if he’d studied harder at school, like his parents were always telling him to do? He doubted it.

What was that?

Something was happening. Something that brought a new fear to his already terrified mind.

He could feel things moving around inside his body!

The pain hit him again, from every part of his body at once.

Fin imagined being lowered into a vat of sulphuric acid - slowly, slowly, a millimetre at a time, then added what it must feel like to be skinned alive. But that was still a long way from the level of pain ripping through his body right now.

He couldn’t move; couldn’t cry out; couldn’t lick his blood covered lips. All he could do was lay impotent and endure. It felt as if he was being eaten alive.

That final thought drove Fin down into the depths of madness, where his long dead dog waited for him, bouncing and yapping as it had done as a pup.

“Hello boy,” he said, patting his dog on the head. “Can’t take you for a walk at the moment. I seem to have something in my eye.”

The dog barked at his master. Always the comic.

***

Piers ran the boat up onto the beach next to the half-sunken dingy. Turning off the outboard motor, he followed Conal ashore, hanging back when he saw Troy.

Lyra ran over and gave him a hug. “Oh thank God you’ve come,” she said. “It’s been terrible.”

Troy flashed Piers a hard look and walked over to Conal. “I’m Troy,” he said. “One of my friends has had an accident. I think he’s bitten off his tongue. He’s been bleeding pretty badly. We need to get him