Submerged: The Labyrinth, Book 2, page 30
“Shit.”
He hurriedly looked around for a place to hide, but the trees and bushes were all too far away. Instead, he smoothed his hair with his palm and then tried to straighten his wet, dirty clothes.
Two figures—a man and a young boy—appeared, cresting the nearest hill, and walked toward him along the dirt footpath. Both wore sleeveless, knee-length tunics, and were barefoot. The man led a donkey, loaded down with wicker baskets full of figs. The boy spotted Tony first, and stumbled in surprise, nearly losing his balance. The man stopped, and the donkey brayed again. Both of the new arrivals gaped at Tony. Judging by their similar appearance and physical characteristics, Tony assumed they were father and son.
The man muttered something in what sounded like vulgar Latin, but Tony understood it as clearly as if he were speaking English.
“Careful, son.”
So, he’d been right. They were father and son. Tony smiled at them and took a step forward.
“Hi. How you doing? You guys mind telling me where I am?”
“It’s a demon,” the man shouted.
“Demon?” Tony held up his hands. “Woah, padre. I’m no demon.”
The father slapped the donkey’s flank, sending it running back down the hill. Then he and his son fled after it, shrieking in fright. Their cries echoed long after they’d passed from view.
Tony sat back down on the ground, plucked a blade of grass, and stuck the end of it in his mouth.
“Shit.”
A warm breeze ruffled his hair and caressed his forehead. He sighed. Then he saw Frankie in his mind, falling into space, and he began to sob again. He sat there, eyes closed, and shoulders slumped, until he felt something brush against the back of his neck. He slapped at it, and felt a small explosion of wetness on his skin. He pulled his hand away and looked at his palm, and found the crushed remains of a butterfly smeared across them.
“Sorry, little guy. Although, I might have just done you a favor. I mean, Frankie’s dead, and I don’t know what the fuck happened to the Exit, and there’s no telling where Bloom fucked off to, and I don’t know how to find Teddy, LeHorn or Sarah. Or Lucifer, if LeHorn was right about him being alive.”
He wiped the butterfly’s remains on the grass next to him, and kept talking to it.
“See, we were supposed to save the universe. But something tells me the universe is now fucked.”
Groaning, he stood up again, and started off in the direction that the man and the boy had fled.
“And I guess I’m fucked, too. Those guys were speaking Latin. I heard it as English, but it was Latin. And the way they were dressed? Something tells me it’s going to be several thousand years before a bus, or an Uber comes along.”
He followed the footpath, humming The Allman Brothers’ ‘Midnight Rider’ to himself as he walked, and he tried not to think about his friends, or his situation. Instead, he focused on the warmth of the sun overhead, because it was the only good thing he had left. He ignored the pain in his feet and legs, and the aches in his joints. He ignored the sunburn that spread across his neck and face. He ignored his sorrow and his grief and the overwhelming sense of despair that loomed all around him, threatening to consume him, because he knew that if he gave in to those things now, he would never get up again.
Eventually, the sun dipped toward the horizon, and then sank beneath it.
Night fell over the world.
Still humming, Tony walked into the darkness.
TO BE CONTINUED IN…
SPLINTERED: THE LABYRINTH, Book 3
Coming Winter 2023
APPENDIX
The Seven
FRANKIE ROGERS: This version of Frankie previously appeared in The Rising, City of the Dead, The Last Zombie: The End #1, and The Last Zombie: The End #2. Alternate reality versions of Frankie have previously appeared in Dead Sea and the short story “Wild Kingdom”.
ANTHONY ‘TONY’ GENOVA: This version of Tony previously appeared in the short stories “Marriage Causes Cancer in Rats” and “Crazy for You” (the latter of which was co-written with Mike Oliveri). Alternate reality versions of Tony have previously appeared in Clickers II, Clickers III, Clickers vs. Zombies, and in the short stories “Running Free” and “The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas”. He is also referenced in several other novels and short stories, including Kill Whitey.
DON BLOOM: This version of Bloom previously appeared in the short stories “Babylon Falling” and “The Valley of the Yunwi Tsunsdi”. He is also referenced in A Gathering of Crows, in which it is revealed that Donny Osbourne served with him in Iraq, and mistakenly thinks Bloom joined Black Lodge after going AWOL and deserting the Army. An alternate reality version of Bloom appeared in The Last Zombie and was killed during the firefight that occurred when Rico’s raiders attacked the leper colony.
THE EXIT: This version of The Exit previously appeared in the short stories “I Am An Exit”, “This Is Not An Exit”, and “Exit Strategies”. Alternate reality versions of him have appeared in the novel The Complex and in the short story “A Delayed Exit”. He is also referenced in numerous other novels and short stories, including Kill Whitey and Take the Long Way Home.
TEDDY GARNETT: This version of Teddy Garnett previously appeared in the novel Earthworm Gods (also published as The Conqueror Worms) and is referenced in Earthworm Gods II: Deluge. An alternate reality version of Teddy appeared in a novella also titled Earthworm Gods (for more on the history of the novella and the novel, see the more recent editions of Earthworm Gods). Alternate reality versions of Teddy are also briefly referenced in the novels A Gathering of Crows and Entombed.
NELSON LEHORN: This version of Nelson LeHorn previously appeared in the novel Dark Hollow (also published as The Rutting Season) and the short story “Stone Tears”. He also had a cameo appearance in the novel Ghoul and is mentioned in the novel Ghost Walk and the short stories “The Ghosts of Monsters” and “Red Wood”. He also appears in the novel A Gathering of Crows, during Levi’s shortcut through the Labyrinth.
LUCIFER: This is the first appearance of Lucifer.
SARAH SNYDER: This version of Sarah previously appeared in the novel Earthworm Gods (also published as The Conqueror Worms) and Earthworm Gods II: Deluge. An alternate reality version of Sarah appeared in a novella also titled Earthworm Gods (for more on the history of the novella and the novel, see the more recent editions of Earthworm Gods), and in the novella The Garden Where My Rain Grows.
HENRY GARRETT: This version of Henry Garrett previously appeared in the novel Earthworm Gods II: Deluge.
~
The Thirteen (members appearing in this novel)
OB: Appears in The Rising, City of the Dead, and Clickers vs. Zombies, and in the short stories “The Resurrection and the Life”, “Waiting for Infinity”, and “The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas”. The references to the realities he was defeated in are “The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas” and Clickers vs. Zombies.
NODENS (THE LIVING DARKNESS, HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED, ETC.): Appears in Darkness On the Edge of Town and Ghost Walk, and is mentioned or referenced in several other novels and short stories.
LEVIATHAN: Appears in Earthworm Gods, Earthworm Gods II: Deluge, Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From the End of the World, and Clickers III, and in the short story “The Garden Where My Rain Grows”.
BEHEMOTH: Appears in Earthworm Gods, Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From the End of the World, and the novella also called Earthworm Gods.
KANDARA: Appears in the short stories “Babylon Falling”, “The Valley of the Yunwi Tsunsdi”, and “Hell at S-MART”.
~
Supporting Cast, Groups and Locations
THE DARK ONES: A pre-human race that came to Earth in the distant past. They appear in the novels Clickers, Clickers II, Clickers III, Clickers vs. Zombies, Clickers Never Die, and the anthology Clickers Forever.
THE CLICKERS: Prehistoric creatures that are often used as beasts of burden by the Dark Ones. They appear in the novels Clickers, Clickers II, Clickers III, Clickers vs. Zombies, Clickers Never Die, The Lost Level, and Throne of the Bastards, as well as several short stories and the Clickers Forever anthology.
BEHEMOTH’S WORMS: Previously appeared in the novels Earthworm Gods (also published as The Conqueror Worms), Earthworm Gods II: Deluge, Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From the End of the World and Return To The Lost Level, and in the novella also titled Earthworm Gods.
LEVIATHAN’S ARMY: Previously appeared in the novels Earthworm Gods II: Deluge, Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From the End of the World, Clickers, Clickers II, Clickers III, Clickers vs. Zombies, Clickers Never Die, the novella The Garden Where My Rain Grows, and the Clickers Forever anthology.
SHOGGOTHS: The shoggoths were first created by author H.P. Lovecraft, and have since appeared in countless horror novels and stories by other authors.
~
Miscellaneous
Frankie’s flashback to herself falling is a reference to the novel City of the Dead (which is recounted herein).
Teddy’s flashbacks are references to events from the novel Earthworm Gods.
Sarah’s flashbacks are references to the novels Earthworm Gods and Earthworm Gods II: Deluge.
Henry’s flashbacks are a reference to the novel Earthworm Gods II: Deluge.
The Chicago skyline that LeHorn glimpses is the world depicted in the graphic novel The Last Zombie: The End.
Sherm, the small-time stick-up artist that Tony tells Teddy about on the rooftop, is a character in the novel Terminal.
LeHorn’s annual pilgrimage to Walnut Island is recounted in the short story “Stone Tears”.
LeHorn’s usage of The Book of Faces and The Book of Doors, as well as the symbol included herein, are all taken from the collection Libra Nigrum Scientia Secreta.
Gustaf Johansen’s trip to R’lyeh is a reference to the short story “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft.
Possible Bubbles of Spacetime Curvature In The South Pacific by Benjamin Tippett is a real paper, available to read on the internet, and it is utterly fascinating. I encourage you to look it up.
Tergax’s “Of The Summoning Of The Seven” appears in the collection Libra Nigrum Scientia Secreta.
Tony’s flashback to facing Leviathan is a reference to the novel Clickers III.
Ob’s reference to his former body—’The Fat Man’—is a reference to the short story, “The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BRIAN KEENE is the author of over fifty books, mostly in the horror, crime, and fantasy genres. His 2003 novel, The Rising, is credited with inspiring pop culture’s recurrent interest in zombies. He’s written for such media properties as Thor, Doom Patrol, Justice League, Doctor Who, The X-Files, and Masters of the Universe. Several of his works have been adapted for film, including Ghoul, The Naughty List, The Ties That Bind, and Fast Zombies Suck.
His awards and honors include the 2014 World Horror Grandmaster Award, 2001 Bram Stoker Award for Nonfiction, 2003 Bram Stoker Award for First Novel, the 2016 Imadjinn Award for Best Fantasy Novel, the 2015 Imaginarium Film Festival Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Short Film Genre, and Best Short Film Overall, the 2004 Shocker Award for Book of the Year, and Honors from United States Army International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and Whiteman A.F.B. (home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber) 509th Logistics Fuels Flight.
Keene also serves on the Board of Directors for the Scares That Care 501c charity organization.
He lives in rural Pennsylvania, along the bank of the Susquehanna River, with fellow author Mary SanGiovanni.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
Also by Brian Keene
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Part II
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Part III
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Part IV
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
To Be Continued In…
Appendix
About the Author
Brian Keene, Submerged: The Labyrinth, Book 2
