Slimer

Thirteen

‘Damn,’ muttered Linda.

The lights had been getting appreciatively dimmer during the last few minutes and now suddenly they’d gone out altogether. That meant the emergency generator had run out of fuel now as well. It also meant that the others were stumbling around out there in the dark, which wasn’t a pleasant thought. Or had Paul taken one of the flashlights with him? She couldn’t remember.

She began to feel around for her own flashlight which she’d got ready as soon as the lights had begun to dim. As she did so she became aware of strange sounds emanating from the direction of Rochelle’s bunk. It sounded as if she was having a convulsion, ‘Ro!’ she cried, ‘what’s the matter? Are you alright?’

There was no answer but the disturbing sounds continued. She found the flashlight and switched it on. Rochelle was lying with her face against the wall but her body was jerking and shuddering under the blanket. Alarmed, Linda stood up and was about to go to her when Rochelle turned towards her.

Linda froze. There, clearly visible in the beam of the torch, was Alex.

He flung off the blanket and sat up. Parts of Rochelle’s clothing were still attached to him but even as Linda watched they melted into his skin and disappeared, like drops of water evaporating on a hot pavement.

By the time he swung his legs round off the bunk he was completely naked and she could see an erection of gigantic proportions extending out from his crotch. It resembled a child’s arm.

‘Hi, Linda. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,’ he said, in a voice that sounded as if it was coming from a blocked drain.

With a tremendous effort of will she forced herself to stay calm. She knew if she panicked she was finished. ‘Hello Alex,’ she said. ‘I can’t say I’m pleased to see you. Where did you spring from?’ But she already knew the answer to that. He’d been here all the time. As Rochelle. She wondered when the thing had got to her. And what about Chris?

He stood up, an ugly sneer on his face. She saw he was taller than before. Bigger. She couldn’t help glancing at his penis, fascinated and repelled at the same time. ‘Pretty impressive, huh?’ he asked, gloating.

‘You always were a big prick, Alex. Now you’re an even bigger one.’

He began to advance on her. ‘You can’t fool me,’ he said. ‘Under that tough talk you’re scared shitless.’ She backed away. ‘Don’t come any closer, Alex. I’m warning you.’

He grinned. ‘Yeah. Warning me of what, bitch? You’re helpless and you know it.’

She edged to one side, trying to keep as much space between them as possible. What could she do? Her mind raced. She weighed up her chances of making a rush for the door. Would she have time to unlock it and open it before he got to her? No. No way.

She kept talking, stalling for time. ‘When did you — it — take Ro, Alex? When Mark and Chris left her alone awhile ago?’

He grimaced. ‘Other way round. She got taken first. Then she took me.'' A look of sick fear passed across his face, as if he was remembering something almost too horrible to contemplate, then the sneer reappeared. ‘You want to talk to her? She’s around here someplace. Having fucking hysterics… She hasn’t adapted like I have…’ He sniggered.

‘Sure. I’d like to talk to her,’ said Linda, still continuing to edge sideways away from him. Anything to delay the inevitable.

Suddenly Rochelle’s voice filled the room. ‘Linda, Linda? Is that you? Help me, Linda! HELP ME!’ The voice became a scream then turned into a scared whimpering that sounded so heart-rending that Linda wanted to cry too.

‘Help me, Linda… I want to go home… help me…’ the voice sobbed.

Her scalp tingling with the horror of it all Linda said hoarsely, ‘I’ll help you, Ro. We’ll get you to a hospital. You’ll be alright. But Ro, you’ve got to keep Alex away. Can you do that? Just for a little while at least? Can you?’

‘No she can’t, bitch,' said Alex. He was back.

Linda’s bowels turned to water. She couldn’t take much more of this. She had to do something. They were still circling each other but Alex was getting closer all the time. It wouldn’t be long before…

She remembered the flame-thrower. But that was useless. She’d have to light the burner first. There was no chance of having enough time. Perhaps she could grab one of the guns? But where were they? It was so dark…

Stall. Stall. ‘What about Chris?’ she asked, with difficulty. Her throat was so dry she could hardly speak.

‘She’s in here too. Or rather bits of her are. Some memories. Odd thoughts. She’d been dead awhile before it took her. It meant her personality didn’t come through intact. But yours will baby. I’m gonna keep you alive to the very end.. ’ She forced herself to smile. ‘Going to have your cake and eat it too? That’s just like you, Alex.’ Inside her head it was just one big scream.

‘Oh, you’re a cool one, Linda. I got to hand you that,’ he said with grudging admiration. ‘But then you always were. A cool bitch. Superior. Always looking at me as if I was some sort of low-life scum…’

He suddenly darted forward, catching her off-guard. He grabbed her by the throat with one of his large hands and shoved her backwards into a comer. ‘But you’re not superior any more. Are you?’ he hissed.

Gasping for breath, she said, ‘No, no, Alex — ’ Then she tried to hit him with the flashlight. But he caught her wrist with casual ease, blocking the blow before it could land.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Expected you to try that.’ He leaned closer to her. His fetid smell washed over her, making her feel even more nauseous. ‘I still haven’t forgotten how you tried to brain me with that gun yesterday.’ He loosened his grip on her throat and began to drag her towards one of the bunks. ‘Now it’s my turn.’

‘What are you going to do?’ she asked, unable to keep the fear out of her voice.

He shoved her against the bunk. ‘It’s what you’re going to do, baby. Put the flashlight on the bunk so that it’s pointing at me. I don’t want you to miss anything. Then get on your knees.’

She knew then what he had in mind. And she remembered Ro telling her once that the thing that most annoyed her about Alex was his frequent demands for blow jobs. It was practically all he ever wanted.

As she knelt before him she said, ‘Alex, I don’t think I can do this. You’re too big. I won’t be able to open my mouth wide enough.’

‘You’d better. Otherwise I’ll just dislocate your jaw to make it easier for you.’

He wasn’t joking, she knew. Shakily, she said, ‘Okay, I’ll try.. I’ll try…’

She took hold of him with her left hand. The skin felt rough, dry and very cold. Inhuman. With her right hand she was reaching for something else…

‘Hurry up,’ he commanded.

She opened her mouth as wide as she could, stretching her jaws until they hurt. While with her right hand she carefully removed the glass stopper.

As her lips touched the end of his member she suddenly recoiled and leapt to her feet. At the same time she flung the sulphuric acid at him. It sprayed over his upper body, most of it catching him in the face. A small amount of it splashed onto the back of her hand, burning it instantly.

Alex tottered backwards, clawing at his face. He let loose a high-pitched scream of agony and Linda knew she’d aimed right. She’d got his eyes..

Now to reach the door, But as she tried to duck past him he flailed out with one of his arms and she screamed as his razor-sharp nails raked down one side of her back. Then he had a handful of her shirt and was jerking her backwards off her feet.

The fabric gave way but too late to prevent her from being slammed into the wall with an impact that winded her. Alex was continuing to lash out wildly, trying to find her again. She managed to avoid a blow that would have probably broken her neck and attempted to duck by him for the second time.

She succeeded. Then she ran for the door. She got there and began feeling for the doorknob and key. It seemed to take a hundred years before she found them. She turned the key…

And screamed again as claws dug deep into her right shoulder. The next thing she knew she was being picked up and hurled like a sack of potatoes down the length of the cabin. She hit the far wall hard and felt something snap in her left forearm. She knew immediately it was broken.

She lay there in a heap, almost upside-down, stunned and helpless. She couldn’t even move as Alex lurched across and stood menacingly over her. In the dim light from the torch she saw his face was covered with large white and yellow blisters from the acid. Both his eyes had been closed up by the burns but, incredibly, a third eye, a rudimentary one, glared down at her from the centre of his forehead.

‘Fucking bitch,’ he rumbled. ‘For that I’m gonna peel your skin off in long strips and make you eat it.’ He bent down, his huge hands reaching out for her. A sick despair filled her. She’d almost made it, but now…

Then, unexpectedly, he stepped back from her. He began to make a thin, wailing sound, like a terrified child, then fell to his knees in front of her and cried, ‘Oh God, it’s back! It’s here.. it’s hurting me… No! It’s eating me! Eating my mindV

Alex screamed and covered his ruined face with his hands. Linda saw that his body was starting to pulsate, as if something inside was trying to get out…

He took his hands away and the single, unfinished eye stared at her imploringly. ‘Linda, help me! Don’t let it pull me back down there again! I want to stay up here, in the light! Oh Jesus, it’s tearing me to pieces…’

His face started to change. The mouth closed up and vanished, as did the eye, and the head became more elon* gated. Whether he wanted to or not Alex was going.

Linda seized her opportunity. The thing was blind now, and presumably deaf, so she twisted round on her hands and knees and began to crawl past it towards the door. But moving at all was difficult; her body didn’t want to obey her commands and the pain in her left arm was excruciating.

Finally she reached the door and stood up. She felt dizzy, as if she was about to pass out. Do that and you’re dead, she told herself angrily.

She glanced back over her shoulder and saw that no trace of Alex remained. The creature resembled some kind of huge, fish-like foetus. Its skin was now a dead-white colour and looked wet and slimy. The head was long and very narrow and completely smooth except for the two large, round fish eyes…

Eyes. It had eyes again. And it was looking straight at her. It started to get up.

Linda screamed and desperately tried to open the door. It seemed to be jammed, then she realised it opened inwardly but in her panic she was trying to open it outwards.

At last she was outside. She hurled herself into the pitch darkness of the corridor and ran for her life, not caring where she was going just as long as it was away from that thing.

She kept running, trying to ignore the explosion of pain in her broken arm that came with every jarring step, until she collided with the wall at the first turning in the corridor.

She bounced off it and landed hard on her backside on the floor. This caused an even greater burst of agony in her bad arm.

Idiot, she told herself. She struggled to get up again, gritting her teeth as she felt the two ends of the broken bone grind together. Then, behind her in the darkness, she heard a distinct/^ plop sound. It was if someone was trying to run in flippers…

It was after her.

She ran blindly, not even sure if she was running in the right direction. For all she knew she could be heading straight towards it. But she knew that if she should run into the arms of that white, slimy horror her mind was going to snap instantly.

No, thank God. It was still behind her. She could hear the wet sounds of its footsteps.

She whimpered to herself as she ran. She held her right arm out in front — she didn’t want to hit another wall. If she knocked herself off her feet again she knew it would reach her before she could get up.

On and on she ran. Her chest began to hurt with each breath. Coloured lights danced in the blackness. How long could she keep going before she collapsed from exhaustion? Was there ever going to be an end to this nightmare or was she already dead and in hell? When the yacht sunk had they all died without realising it?

One of the lights dancing in front of her eyes suddenly became brighter. Then, as it blinded her with its intensity, she skidded to a stop, confused… Behind came the remorseless plip plop footsteps of the creature.

A voice cried out, urgently, ‘Linda, this way! Quickly!’

It was Paul.

She ran forward. Someone grabbed her in the darkness and pulled her to one side of the corridor. There was a roaring noise. She turned and saw Paul firing the flame-thrower at the approaching creature. A great gout of flame — so bright it hurt the eye to look at it — hurtled down the corridor and enveloped the thing.

For a moment Linda thought it was going to keep on coming but after a couple more steps the creature halted and started to scream. It was a hideous sound — as if a houseful of tomcats were being burned to death.

Paul kept the jet of burning liquid on it, advancing slowly towards it as he did so. The thing’s torso was completely alight now, the white flesh sizzling and emitting a ghastly smell…

The awful squealing got more high-pitched and then the thing turned and tried to run. It didn’t get very far. It collapsed to the floor and lay there writhing as the flames grew fiercer around if. Finally the screaming stopped and it was still.

The person holding her said, ‘It’s dead! We got it!’ She realised it was Mark. He let go of her and joined Paul. The flame-thrower sputtered out and darkness briefly closed in but then Mark switched on a powerful flashlight and shone it over the blackened remains of the creature.

Linda wanted to cry out: ‘Don’t go near it! It’s not dead! It’s a trick!’ But she couldn’t make her voice work. All she could do was lean up against the wall and fight the waves of unconsciousness that were lapping at her mind.

‘Look out… it’s still moving!’ warned Paul. He and Mark took a quick step backwards. But the horror wasn’t getting to its feet, as Linda feared it might be, instead it was shifting and bubbling — collapsing in upon itself. All three of them watched in silent awe as the creature’s body dissolved rapidly into a pool of black slime, hissing like a leaky radiator. Then the slime began to move…

Towards them.

Paul switched on the flame-thrower again. The liquid fire poured out over the moving mass of slime. It recoiled but it didn’t bum. Then, slowly, it formed itself into a long tendril that began to stretch out along the floor, away from them. Soon the bulk of the ‘body’ was trailing its way down the corridor and a short time later vanished from sight.

‘Well, at least we’ve given it something to think about,’ said Paul, shakily. ‘But keep sweeping the floor with the light, Mark, in case it doubles back.’ He switched the flame-thrower off and came over to her. ‘Are you okay? What happened? Where are the others?’

‘In hell,’ she whispered. She started to fall and remembered nothing else.