Breathe Deep Fear Vol. 1 Read online

  Cale hugged his jacket more tightly against him as the cold tried to eat away at it.

  “What is this place, John?”

  The creature- no, man ignored him and made a sharp left. Pausing in front of a massive reinforced door, Cale’s eyes widened. Large dents jutted out towards them, like something had barreled into it from the other side. The giant punched in a few buttons into a keypad, the door clicking then opening toward them a few inches before it stuck. John gripped the edges and pried it open the rest of the way, a frigid gale of wind striking Cale in the face.

  “Don’t crap yourself when we go in.”

  Cale nodded and stepped inside, his face dropping in awe and dread.

  The room looked like an old meat locker. Rusted and well below freezing, the remains of something, or some things, were strewn about similarly to what the other monster had done at the massacred farm. Broken chains with bent hooks were either barely hanging from the ceiling or haphazardly strewn out on the ground. Foot deep claw marks marred every surface.

  Except for the massive hole dug into the far wall.

  “What- what was in here?” Cale’s voice was hoarse like he didn’t want to speak about what he was seeing. “Death itself?”

  “A monster that makes me look powerless. They call it War.”

  “They?”

  “The bastards behind this. I’ll talk about them later, but right now we need to figure out what to do with this thing.”

  Cale turned back to John fully and his face morphed into a serious expression.

  “If I’m going to trust you, you need to tell me why you were attacking the people of the town.”

  John’s shoulders seemed to slump slightly. For a moment, Cale worried the man turned monster was going to pounce, but the sad tired look in the large eyes made him doubt that. The large claws opened and closed as it looked straight at him.

  “It was the only way to keep it in here.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve been down in this hellhole for five years now. It has been as well. I was a janitor and was created by it.”

  “You mean you were infected by it?”

  “Sort of – all I know is I woke up and it was trying to get out. I wouldn’t let it and managed to get it trapped in this old freezer where they kept their meat slabs. After the first few weeks, it got real docile and then stopped moving all together … at least until last month.”

  “What changed?”

  “There are a lot of caves in the mountains, or more specifically, over us. I’ve kept my ear to the ground and from what I’ve learned someone was mining the caves.”

  “You believe that?”

  “Not a damn bit. I’m guessing it’s a front for them to get down here, since they haven’t been able to use the only entrance. I blocked it. Regardless, all their digging and noise got the beast stirring. It started trying to dig toward the noise and was beginning to find success. So I- I started bringing it food to keep it docile.”

  “You brought it people.”

  Cale’s voice was even but stern, and John leaned in close as its eyes hardened.

  Cale didn’t flinch even though he was well aware how easily John could kill him. Hell, the entire scenario hinged upon the hope that John wasn’t like the rest of the monsters. Even though he was sentient, the blue giant could still want to eat him. So the entire thing was a best guess on his part.

  Perhaps, Julia was right in her belief that he took too many risks.

  “Yeah, I’m not proud of it, but I chose the scum of the town. Mullen’s crew consists of some real winners, so I used them.” John righted itself. “I’m not saying what I did is justified, but my conscience is clean regardless of your beliefs.”

  “What happened? Did the fake miners break through?”

  Cale decided to leave the topic of sacrifices on the back burner. There were too many more important questions to ask, and quite frankly, if the people that John took were anything like the others – well, they wouldn’t be missed. He frowned as that thought crossed his mind. It wasn’t his place to decide things like that, even if a small part of him did agree with John.

  “The thing kept growing stronger and hungrier. The more it fed, the more it wanted. Originally, it could only eat an arm. By the time it dug itself out, it wanted the entire body. It was a big mistake on my part, one that I didn’t notice soon enough.”

  “How strong is this thing?”

  “Depends on how much it eats. After that farm, I would say you’d need an army and even then you may not take it out.”

  Cale’s blood ran cold. If John openly admitted – he couldn’t take the thing out, then what chance did Julia and he have? Maybe running was the only chance they did have. With the tunnel dug all the way through, it wasn’t like they could trap it again, unless, they got it on the other side of the door. Of course, the cement walls would only hold up if it rapidly lost its current strength from lack of food. And someone would have to be bait and get trapped down here with it.

  Yeah, they were screwed plain and simple.

  He needed to tell Julia and everyone in town. Hopefully, they could figure out some way to slow this thing down. Maybe keep it distracted with cows until The Beetle could arrive with some real firepower.

  “Come on John, we need to regroup and handle this thing.”

  John leapt in front of him and blocked the tunnel.

  “Have you listened to a damn thing I’ve said? There is no handling this thing. I didn’t save you and the others from that hick bastard and his groupies just for you to get slaughtered.”

  “Then what do you suggest? We sit and wait for the town to be devoured? We’re just lucky that this thing can’t spread its infection like the normal ones. We have to-”

  “It can.”

  “What?’

  “It is the original monster, but it can still create more. The only difference is that it takes several days for the mutation to occur rather than several hours.”

  Cale became deathly pale as a bone shattering chill ran up his spine.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  * * *

  Doctor Hyde hummed to himself in the shadowed morgue and flipped through the charts of the latest victims.

  Thud.

  His eyes flicked up above the wire rims of his glasses. Was the wind that bad out that he could hear it in his basement? Moments passed in silence. He shrugged his arthritic shoulders and went to go back to his papers when he heard another one.

  It was coming from one of his cold chambers.

  The thumping increased in intensity as something kicked at the door on the inside and the person in it started screaming. Oh God, had he mispronounced one of the victims? They had been so devastated that he hadn’t checked for a pulse. There should have been no way for anyone to have survived.

  He raced over and swung the door open.

  He never had the chance to scream.

  Chapter

  28

  Cale grunted as he pulled himself out onto the cave floor and rolled onto his back, jamming his numb fingers under his coat and into his armpits. Thirteen minutes of climbing, and he’d lost all feeling seven minutes in. What he would do for a pair of gloves. Nice, thick, heated beside a fire, gloves that were dry and monster resistant.

  John leapt out of the hole effortlessly like he’d taken a step.

  “You know now that I think about it, it probably would have been easier if you carried me up instead of me climbing.” He hopped to his feet without removing his hands. “Or at least thrown me.”

  “Not really, I’m corrosive to most things, especially flesh. It was the reason for the trash bin. I was going to toss you in quick to move you around.”

  “You managed to carry me all the way there.”

  “I entered through the old water tanks. It shielded you.”

  Cale started to walk towards what he hoped was the exit.

  “How did you get me down there, and how do you travel throu
gh toilets?”

  “I can merge my body into water and travel where it can. I can’t transform without it though. Water’s actually what sustains me. I absorb that instead of eating.”

  “How did you get me down there then?”

  Cale felt queasy just thinking about becoming some type of bio slushy.

  “I dove down through the lab’s old sewer system and blasted an opening in the bathrooms.”

  Cale wasn’t entirely sure that made him feel any better.

  The cave entrance was engulfed in white; the lights from the mining crews still shining across the mountainside. Cale cursed as he marched out into the blizzard, the millions of little snowflakes magnifying the lights and making the sky almost seem like day time. This was the last thing they needed. Visibility was almost nonexistent and the wind chill was dangerously cold. He turned toward John who seemed unfazed.

  “Which way to town?”

  He shouted through the howling wind as it wound its way through the mountains and barren trees.

  “Listen son, you just stormed out of that hellhole and still haven’t come up with a plan. We should wait in the cave until the storm clears.”

  “No! My partner is in that town, not to mention the rest of the people. That thing hasn’t fed since the farm this morning. We can assume that it has definitely increased its appetite. I don’t know what to do John, but waiting around is the one thing I know we can’t do.”

  John shrugged.

  “Fine, it’s your funeral. We just head straight down this hill. I’ll stick to the sidelines unless I need to. I intervened with Mullen because I couldn’t let you get killed. However, I don’t think the town will be too keen on my looks. I’m a little underdressed.”

  “Why did you intervene?”

  Cale hopped off a small ledge and started to trudge down the mountain. He wanted to run like a madman, but he could only see a few feet in front of him and rushing over a cliff wasn’t going to help anyone.

  “I know you and your lady friend came specifically for War. I don’t know who you’re with, but with how you acted at the farm, I assumed you’re one of the good guys. I figured I’d need your help with that monster, not that we’re doing that well.”

  “Do you know of any weaknesses or anything that we can use to stop it?”

  “Son, this thing is death and rage personified. I’ve spent five years trying to figure out how to kill it and come up with zilch.” The robotic voice shrieked as the wind hit it. “The other problem we have to deal with is the things it leaves behind.”

  Cale slipped, sliding quickly down as his feet and hands scrambled for some kind of foothold and only grasping patches of snow. John caught his wrist, the topmost layer of skin instantly starting to burn as it touched the pale palm of John’s massive clawed hand.

  Pulled to his feet and quickly let go, Cale inspected the damage to his wrist. It wasn’t too extensive, having more in common with a minor chemical burn – something painful, but not interfering.

  “How far to the town?”

  “A mile downhill.”

  “Carry me.”

  “Are you nuts?”

  “Look, I’ll freeze to death before we get down, and I’ll probably trip and kill myself before that.”

  “It’d be like hugging an acidic teddy bear.”

  “Then I guess you better run fast.”

  Hopefully, the mesh in his coat would shield him.

  John shook his head before lunging forward, scooping Cale up, and leaping in one graceful movement. In a single jump, they covered over a hundred feet and then took off in a breakneck sprint through the sloping woods. He squinted as snow and wind blinded him. How could John see in this, let alone dodge the trees at such speed?

  John jumped up into the air again, soaring out across a clearing. The village’s lights blinked out from just ahead of the upcoming tree line. They landed roughly in a large drift, and John dropped Cale quickly. Patches of the leather had been burned through, revealing a plain gray mesh underneath, but he was unharmed.

  The wind hadn’t eased at all, despite being off of the cliffs and more sheltered by forest. If anything, the storm was almost worse on the flat.

  Running to the edge of the clearing, his green eyes peered through the trees and into the empty town. It wasn’t too odd considering it had to be late. How late, he wasn’t sure, but late enough people wouldn’t be out and shops would be closed. Although, every outdoor light was on, unlike last night.

  He wouldn’t think about how the atmosphere was as eerily similar to his town.

  “Something’s not right.” John’s robotic voice was barely audible over the wind. “Everything is too still. It’s like how a forest gets when there’s a predator about.”

  “You think that thing is around here?”

  Cale struggled to keep the apprehension out of his voice. They could be too late and that thought worried him even more than having to face the monster itself.

  “Not enough destruction, but it’s close. I’ll keep an eye on you from the outside and rooftops; move slow and be careful. I don’t like this and you’ve only got the knife on you. Shout if you get into trouble.”

  Cale gave a nod and walked onto the town’s main road, the snow making a soft crunch with each step. He pulled his knife out and hid it under his forearm as he hugged himself tightly. The cold was a bigger threat at the moment, and keeping warm while being prepared was his best bet. Cautiously glancing around, his heart rate steadily picked up as he edged closer to the buildings.

  The shadows seemed to dance among the shining snowflakes in an eternal attempt to play tricks on his eyes.

  Something snorted behind him.

  He whirled around, knife up and eyes narrowed … nothing. Cautiously kneeling down in the snow, his fingers traced the bare footprints of a human framed in the powder. He glanced in both directions in a futile attempt to find tracks and then slowly stood as something snorted behind him again.

  And a warm rancid breath of air hit the back of his neck.

  Chapter

  29

  Cale wasn’t sure what caused him to react first. It could have been the thing behind him, or the wisps of fiery red hair blown amidst the snow. Regardless, he leapt to the side as fast as he could, three bullets ripping through the skull of the thing behind him. It dropped backward as he rolled to his feet and spun.

  The grotesque creature writhed on the ground before becoming still. The entire body was covered in a dense layer of fresh blood that swirled around its joints and coated slightly enlarged muscles. God, it was startlingly similar to John. At least, they seemed much less … complete. Was this what War was creating? Better yet, how could they considering the damage it inflicted?

  And what was that awful pungent smell coming from it?

  Julia appeared out of the storm, gun leveled at his head.

  “Hello Julia. You know normal people greet each other with a handshake.”

  Relief, or her equivalent, flashed in her eyes as she lowered her gun and approached him. Her eyes dropped down to the burned patches on his jacket, a frown forming with every new piece of damage.

  “How are you still alive?”

  She looked back up at him.

  “I’ve got a lot to explain, but right now I need you to bring me up to speed.”

  “The earlier victims in the morgue have begun to reanimate. Worse than that, the monster that took out the farm has been attacking homes outside of town and is quickly moving towards us. It will no doubt arrive in several hours and take out the rest of us.”

  “The rest of us?”

  “There are only twenty-three survivors. The Sheriff and her deputies are out on patrol trying to find more while the rest have taken shelter in the station. The newer victims that are not completely devoured are taking less time to mutate and become active.”

  “Why are you out here by yourself in the middle of the storm?”

  “We need to get back to our bags and recover th
e jeep. They have the proper equipment to increase our survival odds.”

  “Whatever you have isn’t going to be enough.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t have time to explain.” He frowned and quickly looked around at the rooftops then gave a nervous grin. “Now, I’m going to do something, just promise me you won’t shoot.”

  “Cale what are you-”

  “Promise.”

  “Alright.”

  “John!”

  Cale mumbled a silent prayer, hoping his idea would go over better than he thought it would.

  He watched her carefully as something large flew through the air and landed heavily behind him. Her eyes grew wide in shock as the giant stood to its full height. She instinctively went to shoot, but he grabbed the gun and held it down.

  “Don’t worry, he’s a good guy.” Her eyes darted from John to him and back in confusion. “This is John. John, this is Julia.”

  “Nice to meet you lady.” John gave a nod. “I’ve got a lot of answers for you, but right now we should get going. Those other bastards are on the move.”

  Julia shot Cale a warning look, promising the conversation would continue, but straightened up and relaxed. She probably had a lot of problems with the entire situation. John seemed alright, but it was beyond awkward. Time wouldn’t allow anything different though. The giant was their one shot at getting them and the townsfolk through this. At the very least, he should be able to make short work of the other things so they could focus on War.

  He glanced down at the rapidly dissolving blob staining the snow.

  “Julia, have you ever seen one of them that damaged still move around?”

  “No.”

  “Any ideas?”

  “No.”

  “Are you pissed at me again?”

  “… No.”

  “Great.”