“Maybe,” I said. “But not anymore. I’m officially cold turkey.”
“I’ve heard that before,” Carl said.
I shrugged. “You can believe it this time.”
“I recognized some of the words that Earl was shouting,” Kevin said. “Ob and Meeble and Kandara. Maybe a few of the others, as well. They were some of the graffiti we saw inside the Satanists’ building, during the raid to rescue Christian and Louis. I think they’re names or something.”
“Names of what?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know. Demons, maybe?”
“Oh, come on, Kevin. Why—”
“I think he’s right,” I interrupted her. “I don’t know how or when Earl Harper became a magus—to be honest, I’d be surprised if he could even read—but that gibberish sounded a whole lot like some kind of spell. Like they do in the movies.”
Nobody responded.
Finally, Carl tottered to his feet. “Don’t reckon it’s too smart for us to be standing around jawing if Earl’s still out there and on the loose. We’d better stay awake the rest of the night, and keep a careful watch.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Kevin, you stay here. Carl, you take the big picture window in the living room. Sarah and I will each take a bedroom window on opposite sides of the house.”
“What do we do if he tries to get in?” Kevin asked.
“Shoot him,” Carl said. “And if he gets up, then shoot him again.”
We each took our positions. I stood in my darkened bedroom and stared out into the rainy night. There was no sign of Earl or the worms and nothing moved in the darkness. The house was quiet. Occasionally, I’d hear a rustle from across the hall as Sarah moved, or Carl sneezing in the living room, but that was it.
I was exhausted, both physically and mentally, so I sat down on the edge of the bed, careful to make sure that I could still see out the window. I yawned. My head felt thick and my eyes itched. The headache still pounded in my temples and my body cried out for nicotine. It was hard to concentrate and my mind drifted. I thought about Rose and our kids and grandchildren. I thought about my days in the Air Force, and of the war, and the places I’d seen and the things I’d done. I thought about my brothers and sisters, and my parents, and of my own childhood. I remembered sunny days—days without a cloud in the sky. Days without rain.
I awoke to the sound of breaking glass, and cursed myself for falling asleep. I sat up on the bed just as Earl crawled through the window.
“Now you’ll see, Garnett. Now you’ll all fucking see. Behemoth is coming!”
His hand clenched the broken windowpane and a triangular shard of glass sliced into his palm. Earl laughed as the blood dripped between his fingers. A gust of wind blew the rain in behind him, and something else—the all- too-familiar stench of the worms.
Elsewhere, I heard the others shouting. Their footsteps pounded down the hall towards my room. I reached for the rifle, but I couldn’t find it in the darkness.
Glass crunched under Earl’s feet. He glided toward the bed, wet hair plastered to his scalp, yellow teeth glinting in the darkness. He raised his bloody hands, and in them was the machete I had stored in the shed. He must have broken inside and stolen it.
“We’ve got unfinished business, Garnett. Seaton and the others, the United Nations folks, are for Behemoth to eat, but you—you were promised to me.”
Someone hammered on the bedroom door. I heard voices shouting my name.
“Earl—”
“Save it, fucker. I’m gonna slit you open and gut you like a fish and pull out your insides. I’m going to show you the black stuff inside your belly, and then I’m gonna make you eat it.”
The door crashed open and suddenly there was thunder inside the bedroom. Something exploded, and the flash temporarily blinded me. My ears rang and the air stank of cordite. A splash of red appeared on Earl’s chest, just above his heart. Sarah fired another round, and Earl toppled to the floor. Carl and Kevin rushed into the room behind her.
Carl gave me a hand getting off the bed. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I coughed, and prodded Earl’s body with my foot. He lay still. The hole in his chest leaked blood, and there was a matching hole in his stomach.
“Is he dead?” Carl asked.
“I reckon so,” I said, and kicked him hard in the ribs, just to make sure. Earl didn’t move.
Sarah, Kevin, and Carl crowded over his body. Rain poured in through the broken window and the drapes fluttered in the breeze.
“Damn,” Sarah said. “I was aiming for his heart.”
Carl whistled. “That’s still some nice shooting. Only missed it by an inch or so. Remind me to never piss you off, girl.”
“What happened?” Kevin asked.
My shoulders sank and I hung my head, ashamed. “I fell asleep and then Earl broke in. I couldn’t find my rifle in time.”
The bedroom suddenly seemed to spin. I leaned against the dresser to steady myself.
“What was he babbling about?” Carl asked. “Same bullshit as before?”
I nodded. “Something about Behemoth. Apparently, ya’ll were going to be its main course tonight.”
“There’s that name again,” Kevin said. “You starting to believe now, Sarah?”
She frowned. “Can we not discuss it right now, please?”
The dresser trembled against my back.
Sarah moved to the window and looked outside.
“See anything?” Carl asked.
“Nothing. There’s no sign of the worms. I don’t smell them, either.”
Kevin moved to her side. “Could they be gone?”
My legs wobbled and I swayed on my feet. Then I noticed that the others were swaying back and forth, too.
Kevin frowned. “What the fuck?”
On the dresser, the pictures began to rattle. Rose’s framed embroidery, the one she’d made during our first year of marriage, fell off the wall and crashed to the floor. I heard things breaking elsewhere in the house.
Carl braced himself against the wall. “It’s an earthquake for sure this time! Hold on!”
“No,” I told him, “it’s something else.”
At that moment, Earl groaned and opened his eyes.
“Garnett,” he croaked. “He’s coming. Now you’ll see…”
“Shut up, Earl.”
I kicked him again. This time my boot landed right in his groin, just to illustrate my point, and I almost lost my balance in the process. Earl grunted and the air whooshed out of him. More blood bubbled from the hole in his chest. The house continued to shake.
“Look,” Sarah shouted, pointing out the window. “What’s that? Out there beyond the clothesline?”
I turned to where she was pointing and my heart seemed to stop. My skin felt cold.
It hurtled toward the house, a legless, eyeless thing, five times larger than the one we’d encountered before. Its body was milk-white and so pale in some places that it was almost translucent. Slime dripped from the creature’s body, leaving a glistening trail in its wake. It barreled across the yard and rolled over the shed in one segmented wriggle, squashing the building flat.
“What is it?” Sarah screamed again.
“Hell,” I said simply.
“Behemoth,” Kevin whispered. “It’s fucking Behemoth. Leviathan’s big brother.”
Sarah backed away from the window; Earl opened his eyes again.
“Now you’ll see, you bastards,” Earl cackled, blood spraying from his lips. He sat up, grunting with the effort. “This is the hour of
