Cry For Tomorrow (22 page)

I was so absorbed in the landscape that I hadn’t noticed the dog returning to my side until she disturbed the quiet with a deep growl of warning.

“Hey girl, what’s up,” I whispered. Putting a hand on her collar, I carefully scanned the area.

The dog’s growl was all the warning we got.

Howling like banshees, the phantoms erupted from the shadows. Charging into our scattered ranks, they brushed roughly against us, pushing and shoving. I tried to remain calm but when I felt teeth on my ankle, I kicked the skulking thing creeping along the ground in the head and drew my sword.

“Kelly! Are you okay?” I shouted as I tried to locate my sister. The loud crack of a stick striking against something solid was followed by Kelly’s exuberate shout, “Take that, Mush Face!”

Warned by a stir of the air behind me I spun around, swinging my blade up and into the face of a slug-shaped creature the size of a bat flying at my head. The blade cracked into a very solid mouth full of jagged teeth and knocked the creature to the ground, where Dusty gleefully pounced upon it and began tearing at the soft, rubbery flesh. These so-called phantoms were most definitely not the vacuous, harmless creatures we’d been accustomed to in the over-world.

A pathetic scream ripped the heavy air and drew everyone’s attention to the pair of freaks crouching against the wall of rock we’d just emerged from; they must have followed us through the passageway. One of the phantoms had driven the dark-haired one back against the rocks and seemed to be holding him there. The reason was immediately apparent when a large, humanoid phantom emerged from the shadows of the trees.

“Hey, that is most definitely not any kind of phantom we’ve ever seen before,” gasped Jake.

“Yeah, that’s looking more like one of those ghouls we’ve been hearing rumors about, except it’s more substantial than the usual phantom, and
much
larger,” added Jennie.

We gathered together, watching anxiously as the seven foot tall ghoul converged on the captive freak. Covered in rough grey scales, the creature had a thick, leathery fringe of blood-red framing a face that was a sickening caricature of human with large bulging, red-rimmed eyes, thin black lips and a big bulbous nose covered with warts.

The ghoul lunged the last several feet, pouncing on the freak like a starving dog on raw meat, driving him to the ground with the weight of its body. The ghoul’s gelatinous body began vibrating and the man began screaming.

Exchanging horrified looks, we drew our swords and started moving toward the pair floundering about in the sand.

“No, wait!” ordered Rainor as he intercepted us. “It’s too late! If you try to separate them now they’ll both die.”

Since the attack had begun, the blonde-haired freak had remained motionless, clinging to the rock wall as if in shock but when his companion’s form began to meld with that of the giant ghoul he began stumbling away, sobbing. His fear came to an abrupt end when a second ghoul exploded from the ground nearly beside him. Opening a great slavering maw, it engulfed the terrified man.

This creature was not even vaguely humanoid but was more like a giant mottled slug with a tooth-lined mouth that encompassed two-thirds of its length. As the man disappeared down its gullet, the slug began moaning and quivering as if it were having a seizure.

“Damn! How did they get wind of our arrival so soon?” Rainor pulled a taser weapon from under his jacket and pointed it at the slug.

“What are you waiting for? Shoot the damned things!” shouted Jake.

“Not yet. We’ve got to wait to see what they are!” returned Rainor. “If they’re ghouls, we kill them, if they’re humanoid, they live.” But even as he spoke the slug stopped quivering and its jaws began chewing. There was the sound of bones crunching as the thing slowly turned its thick head section in our direction. Opening its great mouth full of bloody teeth, the slug mewed hungrily at us.

“What’s happening here, Rainor?” demanded Ben. Pulling a weapon easily recognized as a projectile-style police revolver from under his shirt, he aimed it as he took a step forward.

Rainor also raised his weapon and fired. The thin red beam erupting from the tip of the weapon struck the gorging slug square in the middle of its forehead. The head exploded in a spray of green goop.

The decapitated body swayed dizzily for several moments before it collapsed.

Rainor spun about and aimed the weapon at the first ghoul but did not fire, waiting for the transformation to be complete.

I felt Dusty’s fur brush against my leg as she crept forward to place herself between me and the massive ghoul. “Easy, girl, not yet,” I whispered to her as I wrapped both of my hands around the hilt of my sword and waited.

Shuddering and gasping, the ghoul dragged its thick legs under it and staggered to its feet. Moaning pathetically, it gave another convulsive quiver, sending the shreds of the freak’s clothing fluttering to the ground, and began to turn towards us.

To the surprise of all except Rainor, it now wore the face of the freak and even bore scattered locks of dark hair sprouting from its head. The eyes had lost their large, bulbous look, but they were closed tight, as if to shut out the pain of the surrounding world. The creature’s body was no longer as misshapen, but it was also more than twice the mass of the freak’s body.

“This is why I don’t like it when the freaks insist on following me through the barrier,” Rainor said with a sad shake of his head. “I try to understand the pain they’re in but they don’t have any idea what kind of danger they’re facing when they try to meld.” He nodded at the thing toddling toward us with its eyes still closed. “Some of the meldings are successful but others—” he paused and his face took on a sick cast, “well, some are not. You have to understand that this variety of ghoul, the
empty ones
as we call them, have no souls, and we have no way of knowing if the freak making the attempt has a soul strong enough to take control. When they do, well, then everything is good.”

“What happens when they don’t?” Jake dared to ask.

The ghoul suddenly stopped moving forward, its head shot up and eyes flew open, and what I saw in the depths of those eyes was like a glimpse into hell.

“When they only find hell in their melding, then we put them out of their misery,” Rainor stated flatly as he fired his weapon.

The red beam struck between the ghoul’s bloodshot eyes and burned through the skull, and to my relief, the head did not explode this time. Its legs quivered and knees buckled as it slowly slid to the ground, where it lay silent and unmoving.

“Wow!” gasped Jake. “Tell me this isn’t going to happen to anyone else, that only the freaks are going to be taken like this,” he demanded as he stepped into Rainor’s path.

Obviously upset, Rainor shook his head and tried to compose himself. “I-I don’t know.” He threw up his hands in helpless confusion. “It didn’t used to be like this. In the past only the half-mindless, soul-damaged freaks from your cities were targeted like this, but things have gotten stranger and stranger as the Time has drawn closer. The last time I came through I encountered a whole band of ghouls like these prowling through the tunnels in over-world. I’ve never seen them so mindless and violent before. We tracked them back to tunnel thirteen at Karol’s retreat. There seems to be an unexplainable tear in the Curtain deep in the tunnel which allowed them to enter the over-world without passing through the filter. I have never seen phantoms or even the ghouls behave so aggressively before.” He looked around him as if checking for more intruders before going on.

“I’ve got to admit that too many things have changed lately. The Source has gotten more and more remote and her orders are erratic and contradictory. I’ve repeatedly demanded an audience so that I might speak with her directly about my concerns, yet She continues to refuse to grant one. I truly don’t know what to think. I can only hope that what my superiors are telling me is right and that everything will be better when our mission has been accomplished.”

“And what if you’re wrong, pal? What if this Council and their leader have just been telling you whatever it takes to get your help?” demanded Ben as he studied the bloody mess on the ground. “I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been hearing some totally different scenarios,” he growled. “Rumor has it that your leader, the Source, as you call her, and her legion of phantoms intend to take possession of the humans on the over-world, willing or not, and take what remains of our civilization into chaos and hell.”

“No! That can’t be true, I would have known. Even when the dimensions finally touch, the Curtain should remain intact long enough to filter the ghouls as they pass through.” Rainor shook his head and stumbled over to lean against one of the big boulders.

After several moments of silence he raised his head and faced the group of people waiting for him to come to terms with the situation.

“I think we need to make a few changes in our plans here,” he nodded his head at me. “Halie, you and your friends have been gracious and concerned enough to come with me and I know that with your help we will be able to affect the merging but,” he looked from one face to the next, “we are going to do a little investigating before we take any further steps toward that goal.”

His demeanor was very somber as he rejoined us. “I will present you to the Source only as a group sent by your government to investigate the probabilities of bringing a team of psis into Tereus. No one needs to know of your actual abilities until the time comes.” His face had a cold, hard look on it that hadn’t been there before. “If I have been deceived, then we will take steps to bring a stop to the Source’s plans, no matter the consequences.”

“Uh, Rainor,” Jake interrupted, “I realize it’s a little late in the game to bring this up and all, but I was wondering if there will be any kind of language problem when we do encounter the locals.”

Rainor’s face looked a little surprised at the question. “Hey, I’ve been going back and forth for so long that I’d forgotten the whole issue of language.” He smiled in relief. “This one is easy—there isn’t one, an issue I mean. Crossing through the curtain seems to affect the language centers of our brains, you’ll never even be aware of a change in languages.”

There were murmurs of relief from everyone as we moved apart and returned to studying the surrounding landscape.

“Hey, sis,” Kelly greeted me as she joined me on a large flat rock at the edge of the water. “This sure is a scary place, isn’t it?” She shivered as she let her eyes wander across the alien landscape surrounding us. “Do you think we’ll be able to find someplace safe to stay for the night?”

I studied my little sister’s face for a moment—she was trying to be brave but she looked pale and tired to me. A quick look around at the others confirmed that Kelly was not the only one who was worn out from our trek.

“I don’t know just how safe it is anywhere in this place, Kelly, but I agree. We’re all tired and I think it’s definitely time we found somewhere to make camp for the night.” Getting to my feet, I called, “If the rest of you are as tired and hungry as we are, then I think it’s time we moved on a ways now,” I grimaced at the remains of the freak and phantoms strewn across the rocks, “
away
from here, and find a place to take a break. We need to have something to eat and drink and maybe get our bearings.”

The others murmured their consent and tiredly began collecting their packs.

When everyone was ready, Rainor started walking in the direction of a large outcrop of rocks anchored at the edge of the water. Beyond the outcrop lay a beach of silver sand that ran off into a horizon dotted with dozens of small islands.

“If anyone else is still wearing their shoes or boots I recommend that you remove them unless, of course, you relish the feel of wet feet for the next few days,” he suggested as he settled on one of the smaller rocks and began removing his own boots. “And stay close to the shore.” Knocking the sand from the black leather boots he’d been wearing, he stuffed them into the top of his backpack before stepping into the shallow waves. “There are things in these waters that you really do not want to encounter.”

Ignoring the fact that she was effectively soaking her clothes to the waist, Kelly held her pack high over her head with one hand as she enthusiastically splashed ahead. “Wow! This water is so beautiful, Halie. Do you think we can go for a swim later?”

I had my shoes off and was wading through the shallow wake of waves, curiously studying the bed of crystal sand and the scattering of pastel-colored sea-shells visible through the sparkling water. “I just don’t know Kelly. It does look inviting, but—”

“But, as always, in this world, things are not as they seem,” Rainor interrupted as he fell into step with me. “Watch this.” He picked up a piece of driftwood floating nearby and tossed it toward the line of dark water about thirty feet away. It made a soft splash and bobbed on the surface.

Dusty barked excitedly and would have leaped after it if not for Rainor’s quick hand on her collar. “Hold on, dog, you don’t want to do that.” He laughed as he pulled her back and patted her side.

“Why,” I began, and jumped back a few feet when a deeper shadow in the water suddenly broke the surface, and the stick and a good amount of the water surrounding it was suddenly swallowed in a great toothy maw.

“What
was
that?” demanded Jake as he moved a few feet back into the shallows and closer to the edge of the rocks.

“Shark,” Rainor answered solemnly. “Surely you have sharks on your world?”

“Yeah, but not like that,” answered Jake as we all watched the twenty feet or more of dark shadow swirl about just under the surface of the water before disappearing again.

“I don’t think I want to go swimming anymore,” Kelly said in awe as she moved closer to me.

“Good choice,” Rainor muttered. Lengthening his stride, he changed course, heading for the beach again. Splashing ashore, he trekked across the beach toward a semi-circle of large, purple-veined rocks.

“This is where I normally make camp,” Rainor announced with a nod at the small grove of slender trees on the landward side of the cove. The trees were covered in blood-red leaves the size of dinner plates and clusters of fragrant pink blossoms. “This cove is far enough above the high-tide mark that we won’t get wet and these trees and boulders will break the wind blowing in off the ocean. We’ll also be away from the usual phantom trails as well, which should give us some peace for the night.”