Reek, page 26
“Oh, Christ–run!” Jin said, grabbing Mai by arm; hurtling towards the tunnel. He prayed Okada was right.
A strikingly loud crack from above; the sound of an object relenting, throwing up its hands in defeat. Dirt and trees burst into the temple; the ceiling caving in, large roots slamming down around them, rocks hurtling past their heads, striking their bodies, numbness taking over the impacted areas. The monster behind them roared, making Jin's ears bleed.
“Don't stop, run!” Jin yelled as he pushed Mai ahead of him.
“-eav muh...” Kojima flopped forward; hand out, face shiny with blood. “Hel muh, Jin! Hel!” The world shook; a torrent of dirt raining down on them. “Ji!” Kojima begged, spitting blood on his face. “HEL!”
A camera. Old, beaten and scuffed, shoved into his hands. His photography teacher, telling him it was loaded with film, all his. Opening the door, hearing the words, 'Shoot whatever you like'. Running around school, time immaterial. His focus? Whatever he wanted. Him, his choice. Unrestrained, let loose on the world. The camera in his hands; sunlight sparkling in his eyes, the air the clearest of clear, colors burning like a solar system on fire. He was free for the first time. Unleashed, his choices his own. A photo here, a photo there. CLICK. Door handles up close, CLICK, a fingerprint on a window. CLICK. A person far off in the distance, photo taken surreptitiously. The world was truly his; limitless was his playing field.
It had been the best moment of Kojima's life. The best.
Air expelled from him as the taniwha's foot–as wide as a truck–landed, squashing Kojima underneath like a packet of ketchup. His stomach shot out from his mouth as his skin burst open from the pressure, tearing apart like the popping of a balloon.
An eyeball flew, smacking Mai across the nose, optic nerves leaving thin smears along her face. Jin shoved her at the hole, no time. She dove in, her body disappearing. He moved, putting everything into it, a tidal wave of earth rushing from behind him, smothering the temple.
“You belong to us!” Shepard screamed.
There was a rush of air from behind before his back felt as though it had been hit by a car at full speed.
Jin was flying.
The Island
Henare ran, thick legs surging, malnourished trees whizzing by.
He was in a state of swirling emotions. On one hand, he had survived the trip over. The other, he was terrified to be setting foot on the island. It was madness, he had no doubt. His grandmother had made him promise when he was younger; promise harder than any seven-year old boy should have to.
Visit that place, she had said, you doom yourself. None of us belong there. Not me, not you, Henare. That place is no good for our family, you listen to your old Gran now. You listen! It's home to the rotten and the punished, and that's that.
He had loved her as all young boys love their grandmothers. Her fire, the way she spoke her mind and said funny things that adults weren't supposed to with a twinkle in her eye and her gloriously deep wrinkles. But time stalked forward, aged them both and with puberty kicking at Henare's door suddenly all those stories became lectures. No one else was harping on about Pokere except for her and the way she told it, it was all the family's doing. Their bane. He could not have given less of fuck, and that upset her. Drove a wedge between them that neither was willing to remove. The last time they had spoken, she had begged him to be respectful of their curse and what the whānau–his family–had done to keep the balance. Paying people off to stay clear of Pokere. Joining the town council to direct things at a higher level. Buying a few shops that would turn tourists and their inquires away. The Waitoa family had waged a generational war with the island, though his grandmother never trusted him enough to explain the root cause of the battle. At an age where pussy and alcohol ruled the mind, Hen had given her the finger and dumped the woman like so much trash. Stepping forward now, squashing dead branches underfoot, Henare wondered if there was any stage in his life where he had not made a deplorable choice due to sex.
The air smelled bad, stale and unclean. The sunrise had made things better; a little beauty doing wonders, gold rays of light against faded green and decaying brown. There had been a small rumble moments before, a shake unlike any quake he had witnessed. Henare swore, gut vibrating as he ran towards the origin of the sound, armed only with a shotgun. He had no doubt the shake had come from the hospital. It was the only place that could be seen from the port with a set of binoculars. Horrible, dilapidated place. Sweat soaking the front of him, he ran out of the forest and into the clearing, the building ahead. They had to have come here, the doc team. Last anyone recorded–before he was born–the only other thing on the island was a bunch of old shipwrecks on the other side. He ran; neck twisting this way and that, watching out for anybody or anything that was a threat.
Damn place could have a fucking spaceship on it for all I know, he thought.
Almost at the hospital, the old building rose up, larger than he had imagined. It summarized Pokere in a way that was fitting: a skeleton, decayed and treacherous. Only a fool would step inside its rotted walls.
The island shook with a tremor so sudden he was thrown off his feet. Someone screamed from inside the hospital, a woman's voice. He had been right to come, someone was still alive. The island raged around him as though it would fall down into the ocean surrounding it. Pokere was angry and pity to those standing on her back. Henare started to crawl towards the building.
“Hang on,” he yelled, clutching the shotgun tight. “I'm coming!”
-:-Z:1#:--
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The tunnel had collapsed. The world had fallen, as had their only way out. Mai's head would have been crushed; her body left to spasm out the last moments of life if not for Jin grabbing and pulling her back at the last second, rock and earth appearing where her body had been seconds before.
“We're trapped!” she screamed, her mind telling her they were going to die here. Squashed. No more breathing, no more anything. Not eaten by a monster, not from starvation, but by the earth itself. One more shake as the temple behind them settled and they would be either sealed off from the outside world or the life would be squeezed out of them by the remainder of the tunnel coming down. Every instinct in her told her she had minutes to live. “Trapped! Oh my God, I don't want to die here,” she said, “not here, no, please!”
“Mai!” Jin yelled, twisting her around in the small space; hands around her jaw, forcing her. “Look!”
iPhone in hand, she thumbed at the screen. The light glared to life, flickering off and on, showing another tunnel twisting away, leading in another direction.
“I-I can't see the end,” she said. The small camera light only went so far. Darkness claimed the rest.
“Doesn't matter, go!”
The ground shook again, giving Mai all the incentive she needed. She scrambled forward; the tunnel narrowing, forcing her to crawl ahead on her hands and knees. Jin was right behind her, his head bumping against her legs. His urgency scared her more, pushed her to grab fistfuls of dirt, trying to go faster.
“Don't stop, Mai!” The panic in his voice was clear, the urgency. The smell of dirt, a stench no less terrifying than the taniwha's odor.
“Oh no,” she said.
The tunnel narrowed further still. Her heart felt like it was ready to burst out of her chest, she couldn't get enough air; walls getting tighter around her.
What if there's nothing ahead? What if we get stuck?
The space constricted as she went further; a tiny space, tight and finite. Mai flattened herself; iPhone transferred to her mouth, the space pressing her down to her chest; top of the tunnel scraping against her back, her breasts squashed, no less than a few inches either side of her. She couldn't breathe; the constricting tunnel stealing her will. A spider crawled in front of her the size of a baseball, with bushy brown legs and a stocky body.
“Hurry!” Jin yelled.
The spider inched closer to her face, one leg touching her eyebrow. Her body was like stone; terror cramping her muscles, fear seizing her mind. She could see the arachnid's fangs in the phone's light; the gleam reflecting in the full, black daggers. Liquid bubbled around them. Poison. Her breathing was out of control, heaving in and out, soil sucking into her throat. She did not dare cough. The spider's many eyes bore into her; alien and unfeeling.
“MAI! MOVE!”
The spider hunched, sensing the threat, fangs constricting. She bit into the phone, drool dribbling down the casing. The tunnel shuddered, dirt falling into her eyes; her eyelashes heavy with soil.
The spider scuttled off ahead in fright, gone.
“Mai!” Jin yelled, pushing at her.
She slid forward, inhaling grit and dirt, her chin grazing the earth, rock above biting into her scalp. She coughed, her saliva making the phone slip in her mouth; the only light source they had. She bit down on it as hard as she could. Something collapsed behind her, no way of knowing if the tunnel ahead didn't do the same.
“Jin?”
Absolute panic lit up in her when he didn't answer, the space around her too small to be able to turn and look behind. She couldn't feel his head at her legs anymore.
“Jin? Jin!”
Something pushed against her.
“I'm here,” he said, “just hurry. I think...” Mai heard something shift behind her. Something large.
“What?” she said, pulse racing.
Jin's terrified voice screamed back. “GO!”
The ground trembled, pebbles twitching between her fingers. She pushed ahead with all the power she had, her shoulders refusing to move; the space on either side of her gripping her tight. Just ahead, the tunnel stopped, a void awaiting her.
“It's too small,” she said as the iPhone fell from her mouth, upturning; light blinding her. Jin's head and shoulders pressed against her, pushing forward. There was a scraping noise as the dirt and stones cut through her jacket, then she was through, collapsing into a small cave big enough for her to stand in a crouched fashion and grab at Jin's hands. She begged him to push as she tugged, his wider shoulders refusing to budge.
“You're going to pull my arms off!”
A cloud of dust shot out of the tunnel as he came loose, collapsing onto her. They looked back; piles of roots, dirt and stone filled the small burrow they had just crawled through.
“Up there,” Jin said, using the phone's light to point to a small wooden cover above their heads. “We have to keep moving. Something was in the tunnel behind me.” Both of them hit the cover at the same time, pushing up. It pressed back on them, a weight from above holding it down.
“Push up on your side, then I'll push up on mine,” Mai said, hoping whatever was against the cover would fall off. There seemed to be some give to the weight, if only slightly.
Jin threw his shoulder at the cover, groaning as he drove himself up. The cover tilted and Mai took her chance. She copied, pushing up as hard as she could. Something slid off the cover, tumbling away. Tunk-tunk tunk. Jin slammed against his side, pushing the cover up and over. Something soft fell on her shoulder. It stank, the reek so sudden she coughed up bile. Jin swirled the phone, finding a small, decaying limb lying at her feet. She screamed as Jin rushed to her, pushing her up and out of the tunnel. Mai grabbed out, fingers catching on wooden planks. She pulled, throwing her legs out of the hole. He came up, grasping her hand and rolling gingerly onto the wooden surface. His back was bleeding; red slices along his shirt glimmering in the phone's light. The tunnel had been much tighter for him.
“Where are we?”
The smell was worse up here, one pass of the phone's light confirming her suspicions. They were in the locked room. The cover had been hidden under the pile of small body parts which now lay scattered across the floor.
“We made it,” he said, smiling until he saw her face.
“Oh shit,” she gasped, remembering, looking at the hole in the wall, the one they had originally fallen into. Remembering what had sent them down there in the first place.
“Oh shit!” Jin said, realizing for himself. The light went around the room, whipping to each corner, searching. Sato, or the thing that was now Sato, was nowhere to be found; remains of the door shattered and hanging off the frame the only signs he had been here. Mai sighed, the tension slipping from her.
“We have to go,” Jin said, extending a hand, helping her up.
She opened her mouth, letting the words come. Words she had been wanting to say for what felt like a lifetime. “Than-”
A violent quake shook the building, knocking them to the floor. It seemed to be vibrating beneath them; wood twisting and creaking as everything around them started to bend inwards.
“Mai! Look out!”
Something exploded up from the floor, throwing them in the air. In flight, they saw it.
The taniwha's huge head breaking out from the ground below. It saw them, fixing on its prey.
In what seemed like slow motion, she saw Jin extend his hand to break his fall but at the wrong angle. His elbow bent, twisting in a way it was not intended. She heard the crack and his yell; knew his arm was broken before they crashed to the floor. She was up before he was; momentum from the floor carrying her forward, the world a dizzying blur. Up was down, left and right were for the lucky. Mai grabbed Jin's collar, pulling him up. He moaned from the pain, throwing his good arm around her shoulder.
“Where are you going?” Mai heard a voice ask, one she knew from her dream.
Shepard.
He grinned at her, embedded in the side of the creature's head like a cancer. “The Protector is the island, child. You scurry forth on His very skin!” The taniwha's head slammed against the room; the size of it almost filling up the space; a titan made wicked. Mai and Jin fell out into the hallway where the foyer lay ahead; double doors leading out beyond. Light shone in through the windows. Sunrise.
“Mai,” Jin said, “that thing is too big, it'll bring the place down.” It roared, globs of saliva coating them, its tongue sliding across the floor, just missing their feet.
“We have to get out before it does,” she said, trying to push him up.
“No, you don't understand.” The taniwha twisted, the floor splitting apart down the middle as it pushed out, more of the beast coming through. The building swayed, protesting against the damage. “It'll bring the place down.” He looked at her, imploring her to understand. As a part of the ceiling came down, bouncing off the monster's head, she did.
“It'll bring the place down!” She pushed him, his feet scuffing down the hallway. “Go,” she said. “I'll be right behind you.” Another shake, this time accompanied by a loud crash. Part of the building had collapsed, she knew it.
Good, she thought. Let this place fall to pieces.
“Shepard!” The man twisted in his home, all smiles. “What do you call this thing again?” His eyes and nostrils flared. He had been inside her head, forced her to suffer through that horrible nightmare. She could still feel the tingle of her flesh crisping up. “This thing, this animal? What is it?”
“Do not call the Protector 'it'!” Shepard yelled, “He is eternal. He is life!”
Mai shook her head, “All that power and it can't pull itself up from the dirt? No wonder you've been stuck here all this time!”
The creature stopped; the great head tilting. It had heard her. The taniwha roared. Mai thought she could hear rage in the sound.
“Do not blaspheme! Do not sully the Protector!” Shepard writhed in a fit of anger as the taniwha's shoulder ripped out of the floor. The building swayed, threatening total collapse.
“I'm right here! What's taking His Majesty so damned long?”
Shepard screamed; guttural hatred spilling from his mouth. “Insolent bitch!”
The floor split apart next to her. A tentacle thudded to the ground, whirling around to rise up; a malformed body bulging out of the appendage. Mai recognized it: the ghost from her room. “Still hungry!” it wailed, reaching for her.
Mai threw the iPhone; metal striking the target, sinking into its forehead. The ghost howled, tentacle smacking to the torn floor. Mai kicked at it, putting her weight behind it, something an ex-boyfriend had taught her years ago. It screamed, greenish-yellow fluid oozing from its mouth as her foot sunk into the neck; a satisfying crunch coming from the impact. The tentacle withdrew, sliding back into the hole it came from.
“You talk about your God like it's almighty,” she said, pointing at Shepard; the monster's head struggling to free itself further. She waited, timing it. “Look at you, living in the dirt. All I see is a wild animal that needs to be put down.”
Shepard went crazy, screaming until spittle coated his face. The taniwha shook itself, smashing the room apart; wood and debris exploding outward. The creature's mouth came at her, opening wide. Mai turned, running down the hallway, the foyer ahead, her damaged knee throwing up complaints. Jin stood there, arm outstretched.
“Run, Mai! Don't look back, just run!”
Something shattered behind her; detritus flying. It was coming for her, the building parting around it like waves. A horrifying crack echoed across the building. It was finished. Above her, the ceiling split in two, buckling inward.
“Mai,” Jin yelled, “jump! Jump now!”
The taniwha roared behind her; hot breath steaming her back. The floor bulged, planks of wood uprooting, snapping up from their nails. Mai took one step and jumped. A force clamped shut behind her; the sound wave following. She had a second to think: Jin's broken arm.
She fell against him as the foyer detonated; the taniwha surging forward. Jin screamed. Something flew open, the movement too quick. Light enveloped her, and they fell.
-/:-*:--:--
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The building came down in front of them. With them.
The structure sagged as though it was fighting the inevitable. A last surge to stay alive. It had weathered the years, witnessed atrocities and horrors beyond imagination. It wanted to stay, to keep on witnessing; a custodian for all time. The building rallied against gravity; goliaths raging.
