Slimer Read online

  And got the shock of his life.

  The coat appeared to be attached to her. As he pulled it open it was like peeling skin off an animal. The underside was all red and sticky and her bare flesh looked as if it had been flayed.

  The woman gave a terrible scream and sat bolt upright on the bed. Alex screamed too. Then, in a panicky reflex action, he reached for the knife in his back pocket, flicked open the 6 inch blade and drove it straight into her heart.

  Her body gave a galvanic shudder and she fell back. The scream became a hoarse, bubbling rattle then silence.

  Already Alex had flung himself off the bed and was back-ing out of the doorway. For a brief moment he considered retrieving his knife but then he saw that something was oozing out of her chest around the hilt. Not blood but something that looked like black slime. A terrible stink began to fill the cabin.

  He turned and fled.

  ***

  Mark needed a fix. Badly. They'd been trapped in the video room for hours now and he was feeling worse with every passing minute. He couldn't breathe and the walls seemed to be closing in on him. His clothes were drenched with sweat but his skin felt cold and clammy. And that awful flesh-crawling sensation as if all his nerve ends had been rubbed with a wire brush had also started. It was all part of the now-familiar symptoms of withdrawal.

  He stopped pacing back and forth and went over to the door and rattled the handle as if expecting to find that it wasn't really locked after all. Paul was watching him. 'What's the matter, Mark? Are you feeling sick again?'

  With an effort Mark grinned at him. 'Me? No, I'm fine. I just want to get out of here.'

  'So do I but there's nothing we can do until someone finds us.' Paul turned back to the monitors. The girls were still hiding in the cabin, presumbly under the impression that Alex was still lurking outside. But Alex had wandered away over an hour ago and disappeared. If only Linda and Chris would come out and start looking for them… if only they could communicate with them in some way. It was frustrating to be able to see where they were but not be able to do anything about it.

  There was a bang on the door. Both he and Mark jumped, then glanced at each other. Who the hell could that be, wondered Paul. Rochelle or someone else? The mysterious 'Charlie' perhaps? Then they heard the door being unlocked. It opened.

  It was Alex.

  He actually looked relieved to see them. 'Hey, I've been looking everywhere for you guys. You got to come see this -'

  He didn't get any further. Paul had leapt out of his chair and punched him very hard in the mouth. Alex hadn't been expec-ting it. He went down on his back and lay there looking up at Paul with dazed surprise. 'What the fuck…?' Blood was already oozing from his split lower lip.

  'We saw you,' said Paul, standing over him with clenched fists. 'We saw you trying to get to Linda and Chris, you bastard. I'm going to smash your damn head in -'

  'For Chrissakes, forget that, will ya - this is important. I killed a woman.'

  'You what?' Paul was stunned. 'Not Ro…?'

  'No, no. Some bitch in a white coat. But you got to come to look at her.' He got to his feet, 'Either I'm going crazy or she's not human. Come and see…'

  Paul had no choice but to stifle his anger for the time being and follow him. The confrontation was going to have to be post-poned.

  Alex led the way down to the level below and then along a passageway. It took him awhile to get his bearings but finally he stopped outside an open doorway. 'In there,' he said, thickly. 'She's in there, on the bed.'

  Paul looked inside. The cabin was empty. And so was the bed. 'She's not here,' he told Alex. 'Are you sure you've got the right room?'

  Alex pushed him aside and went in. He bent down and picked something up from the floor. Paul saw that it was his switch-blade. 'It's the right room okay. And she was lying right there with this sticking out of her chest.'

  'And you say her clothes seemed to be part of her, as if they were growing on her like skin?' He couldn't help sounding sceptical. Alex had described what had happened on the way down and Paul found it all too incredible to believe. It was his opinion that Alex had suffered from some alcohol-induced delusion.

  By now Mark had entered the room too and was sniffing the air. 'It stinks in here,' he commented.

  'Not as bad as it did,' said Alex. 'When that black slime started coming out of her chest the stink was enough to make you gag.'

  'Black slime?' Mark stared at Alex with shocked eyes, then he turned to Paul. 'This smell - it's the same as in the crane cabin when I thought I saw that black slime come out of the overalls. Paul, maybe I wasn't seeing things.'

  'What the fuck is he talking about?' demanded Alex. He was reverting back to his usual self now.

  Mark described what he'd seen in the crane. Alex laughed uneasily. 'A pool of slime that moves around by itself? You're off your rocker.'

  'Then so are you if you've been seeing women with their clothes growing out of their skin and who get up and walk away after you've stabbed them.'

  'Someone must have moved her body,' growled Alex. 'I tell you she was dead.' He brandished the knife. 'I put this right through her heart. I didn't mean to, mind, it's just that she took me by surprise.'

  'Yeah, we know you wouldn't really hurt a fly,' said Paul dryly as he examined the knife in Alex's hand. 'No sign of anything on the blade. No black stuff or blood. And no blood on the bed covers, or the floor.'

  'You think it was the same woman we saw earlier?' asked Mark.

  'I suppose so.' Paul began to look aound the cabin. He opened a chest of drawers and pulled out a pile of folded womens' clothing. 'She said it was her cabin?' he asked Alex.

  'Yep. Come on, let's go search for whoever took her body away. They couldn't have got very far with her yet. She weighed a ton.'

  Paul raised an eyebrow. 'She was unusually heavy?'

  'Like she was packed with lead weights.'

  'Must be the same one alright.' He told Alex about being flung across the video room by Dr Carol Soames.

  'I don't understand any of this,' complained Alex. 'What the fuck is going on around here?'

  'I think maybe I can help you guys out on that score,' said an American voice from behind them. They all spun round. Standing in the doorway was a young man in a dirty uniform. And he was holding an M16.

  NINE

  'He's still waiting out there. I know he is.'

  'I don't think so,' said Linda. 'It's been ages since we've heard a sound. Alex is too drunk to be that sly. He's either gone or he's passed out. I'm going to open the door.'

  'No!' Chris grabbed Linda's arm. 'Don't! He's out there. I can feel his vibes.'

  Linda sighed. 'Chris, people stopped having "vibes" at the end of the 1960s. I'm going out. We can't stay in here forever. Besides Paul and Mark are probably back by now and looking for us.' She unhooked Chris's fingers from around her forearm and reached for the key in the door. As quietly as possible she unlocked the door and opened it a couple of inches. She peered out through the crack. No Alex. Encouraged she opened the door wider and looked out. The corridor was empty.

  'Come on,' she said to Chris, 'it's all clear.'

  Chris reluctantly followed her out into the corridor. 'Where are we going?' she asked fearfully.

  'Back to that recreation room we were in.'

  'But Alex might be there!'

  'We've got to take that chance. The guns are there and I won't feel safe again until I'm holding one. Anyway, if the guys are back yet that's the first place they'll go. So come on or I'll leave you here.'

  'I'm coming,' said Chris hastily.

  ***

  The recreation room was empty. Or so it seemed at first but as Linda bent down to pick up the revolver she'd dropped earlier when struggling with Alex she heard a noise. It came from a nearby cupboard.

  Someone was in there.

  Chris stifled a frightened gasp. Motioning her to keep silent^ Linda approached the cupboard, the revolver cocked and ready to fi
re. This time she would have no compunction about shooting Alex if he made a move against her. If it was Alex…

  She opened the cupboard door and immediately something leapt straight out at her with a piercing shriek. Linda fell backwards as she tried to avoid the claws that were ripping at her face. As she fell the gun exploded with a deafening report, sending a bullet harmlessly into the ceiling.

  The shock of the report distracted Linda's attacker long enough for her to see who it was. 'Rochelle!' she cried.

  Rochelle stared down at her. She was almost unrecognis-able. Her eyes had the wild look of an animal and her lips were drawn back from her teeth in a feral snarl. But slowly recognition dawned on her face. 'Linda…' she whispered in surprise, 'thank God… I thought it was her…'

  She got up off Linda and covered her face with her hands. She started to sob. Linda was incredulous. She had never seen Rochelle like this before. Nothing ever unnerved her. Hell, if she could live with Alex she could take anything. Then she noticed a large wet patch on the front of Rochelle's jeans and realised, with dis-taste, that it was urine. Something had scared her so much she'd actually pissed in her pants.

  'Rochelle, what happened to you?' asked Linda as Chris helped her up. 'And who do you mean by her?

  Rochelle had sunk down onto her haunches now, her face still covered. 'The woman from the… tank,' she said between sobs,'she almost got me… I fell…my ankle… she touched me… but I got away… I crawled away and then I started running and running, but I kept falling over… and I could hear her behind me…'

  'Shhh, listen!' said Chris urgently, holding up a hand. 'Someone's coming!'

  ***

  'Who the hell are you?' demanded Paul.

  The young man grinned at him and lowered the M16. 'Name's Ed Buckley. And boy, am I glad to see you guys. I can't tell you what it feels like to be with normal people again.'

  Paul stared at him suspiciously. 'Well, I wouldn't exactly call us normal but what about you? How do we know you're all right?'

  'Relax. I'm not like them. I avoided getting, uh, infected. I've been hiding out ever since. This is the first chance I've had to get to you.'

  'And you're the only one who avoided getting infected?' asked Paul, still suspicious 'I was lucky. For a time there were two of us.' He gestured at the room. 'Dr Soames was with me but she got careless. Then there was just me. I've been on my own for two weeks now, hiding from them… and Charlie…'

  Paul sighed. 'Ed, who is Charlie? And what happened here? All we know is that it had something to do with some experiments to make an artificial gene called Phoenix.'

  Buckley looked surprised. 'You know about Phoenix?'

  'I fucking don't,' growled Alex, 'what the hell is this Phoenix?'

  'We got part of the explanation from some video tapes,' said Paul, 'but we still don't know the full story.'

  'Well,' said Buckley doubtfully, 'it's not easy to describe and I'm no scientist. I'm just a security jock.'

  'But you had a general idea of what was going on here?'

  'Yeah 'And you do know what Charlie is?'

  'Yeah, but it's all pretty crazy. It's going to sound funny to you…'

  'Believe me, Ed,' said Paul with heavy sarcasm, 'we could all do with a good chuckle. So tell us.'

  A shot rang out.

  For a few seconds everyone was too startled to react. Then Paul muttered, 'The girls…'

  'It came from that direction,' cried Buckley, pointing down the corridor. 'Come on.'

  A sick feeling enveloped Paul as he followed Buckley at a run. If anything had happened to Linda…

  ***

  There was a great deal of mutual relief when the two groups were reunited in the recreation room. After Paul had been reassured that Linda was alright and that the gunshot had been an accident he brought her and Chris up-to-date on whaj they'd learned since they'd left that morning. Then it was Linda's turn to brief him and Mark on what had happened to them. By the time she'd finished Paul's anger towards Alex had been rekindled and he turned on him accusingly.

  'You were going to rape her.'

  Alex stared back unabashed. 'I was just foolin' around,' he said arrogantly. 'I was drunk, I guess. Then after she hit me on the head I got a little mad.'

  'Is that allT Paul began to advance on him. 'I should kill you.'

  The switch-blade suddenly appeared in Alex's hand. 'Go ahead and try.'

  'Leave him, Paul!' cried Linda. 'I'm fine. He didn't touch me. It's Rochelle we should worry about. Something worse happened to her. Tell them, Ro.'

  Rochelle was still sitting on the floor, slumped against the cupboard door. She hadn't been taking any interest in what had been going on. There was a look of dazed terror in her eyes as if she was still seeing whatever it was that had scared her.

  Then, on Linda's urging, she slowly described the events in the aquarium. When she'd completed her story there was an uneasy silence. Alex was first to break it. 'Must be the same bitch I ran into,' he said, 'but I didn't see anything wrong with her mouth.'

  'And the same woman we encountered,' said Paul. 'Dr Carol Soames.' He turned to Buckley who was looking uncomfortable. 'Well?'

  He shrugged. 'She's infected. With Phoenix. Just like the rest of them. It's a kind of parasite…' His voice trailed away.

  'And everybody but you got infected with this thing, is that right?' asked Paul.

  'Yeah. I told you that,' said the American.

  'Ed, where are they all? This place is deserted. You're the third person we've seen since we arrived. Where are all these infected people hiding? And what's the reason for all the empty clothes we found?'

  Buckley's discomfort grew visibly more acute. 'It's complicated,' he said. 'I'll try to explain but like I said I'm no scientist.'

  'Go ahead. We're listening,' said Paul impatiently.

  But now there was a look of alarm on Buckley's young face. 'Oh no, it's coming.' He turned towards the open doorway and raised his gun.

  Paul turned too. He hadn't heard a sound. But the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up.

  'Everyone grab a weapon,' ordered Buckley crisply. 'If we put enough bullets into it we might be able to kill it.'

  'Kill what?' demanded Alex as he frantically looked around for a gun. 'What's coming?'

  Buckley ignored the question. He hurried over to the doorway and reached for the light switch. 'You all got guns yet? I'm gonna turn the lights off.'

  With the exception of Rochelle, who hadn't moved, they hurriedly grabbed weapons and took cover where they could. Paul, armed with one of the M16s, took cover beside the couch, pulling Linda down beside him. She still had the revolver.

  The room was suddenly plunged into darkness. The only source of light was from the open doorway. Buckley hurried back across the room and crouched down behind a chair near Rochelle. 'It's near, very near,' he hissed.

  But the only thing Paul could hear was the thumping of his heart. His eyes were fixed on the oblong of light that was the doorway. Any moment now it would be outlined there…

  'I still don't hear a fucking thing,' said Alex hoarsely. He was sprawled on the floor behind an upturned coffee table. Mark and Chris were huddled in the corner to the right of the door.

  'Sshhh!' ordered Paul.

  There was silence. Paul strained to hear any sound from outside but there was nothing.

  'It's coming… it's coming…' whispered Buckley. 'You've got to kill it. Promise me you'll kill it no matter what happens to me. I'm finished anyway… I know that now…'

  Paul was too occupied with watching the doorway to pay any attention to what Buckley was saying. His finger was locked around the trigger, ready to fire the instant the creature, Charlie or whatever, stepped into sight…

  'It's close now… closer…' Buckley's nerve-wracking whisper went on. Then he said, 'It's here!' Paul jumped, but the doorway remained empty.

  Rochelle screamed.

  Paul glanced sideways and froze with horror. Where's
Buckley had been crouched a dark shape was now standing. And growing. It was already over seven feet tall but as Paul watched the shape grew even taller.

  He had no idea what was going on but he swung the barrel of the M16 round towards the apparition. Beside him he heard Linda gasp as she caught sight of what he was seeing too. The shape had turned slightly and the dim light from the doorway illuminated part of it. Paul had never seen anything like it before.

  The face, if you could call it that, was long and smooth except for two large round eyes that seemed horribly blank and lifeless. At the bottom of the 'face' there was an eruption of small, squirming tentacles which parted suddenly to reveal an impossibly wide mouth full of triangular teeth.

  As the mouth opened Paul heard the same terrifying and utterly alien cry that he'd heard outside his cabin the night before. This was Charlie.

  It was now over eight feet tall, its head almost brushing the ceiling. It had no neck. The head jutted forward from between a pair of massive shoulders from which hung thick, sinuous arms that seemed jointless and ended in two large clusters of tentacles which appeared to have teeth growing out of them.

  Rochelle, still screaming, tried to crawl away from it. It noticed her immediately and lashed out with one of its 'arms'. Rochelle was scooped up off the floor and flung backwards against the wall. She bounced off it with a bone-jarring thud and lay unmoving at the thing's feet.

  This had the effect of snapping Paul out of his frozen state. He took careful aim at the creature's head and pulled the trigger. It jerked as the bullets struck home but didn't fall. Instead it turned on Paul and, with an even more deafening screech of rage, began to advance towards him.

  I'm going to die, thought Paul as the creature approached him, but he kept firing and at the last moment it halted. It had been hurt, at last.