“Everybody out,” I said. “We’re out of time.”
“You can say that again,” Earl rasped, stumbling into the kitchen. Blood streamed from his split scalp, staining the collar of his shirt.
Kevin looked at Sarah as she clambered to her feet.
“I thought you said he was dead,” Kevin shouted.
She stumbled. “He didn’t have a fucking pulse!”
“Let he who believes in me have eternal life,” Earl wheezed, and took another step forward. This time, it was unmistakable. Long, thin forms moved beneath his skin, traveling through his bare arms and climbing up his neck and face.
Sarah choked. “Oh my God…”
Carl and I raised our rifles at the same time.
“Go ahead,” Earl cackled. A worm fell from his open mouth. “Shoot me again, you bastards.”
Before we could, the house bucked in its frame again and then tilted to one side. Carl and Sarah were both knocked to the floor again, and Sarah’s pistol went off. Kevin crashed into the refrigerator. The kitchen table and the hutch both slid towards me, slamming me into the wall and pinning my legs. An excruciating jolt of pain ran through my entire body, from my toes all the way up my spine. I screamed, and black spots swam before my eyes. I fought to keep from vomiting as another surge of pain coursed through my body. My left leg began to shriek, from the thigh down. I knew right then that it was broken.
Above us, the roof split open, revealing the dark sky. The rain poured through the snapped timbers and the wind howled, buffeting us all. The temperature in the kitchen immediately dropped.
Beneath our feet, Behemoth roared.
Earl staggered backward into the living room and Carl crawled after him. The two of them grappled and rolled onto the couch, which had also begun to slide across the floor. Carl’s fingers sought the bullet hole in Earl’s chest, and he shoved one inside. Shrieking, Earl snatched up a heavy glass ashtray from the coffee table and brought it swiping down on Carl’s forehead. I heard the sickening crunch from where I was pinned in the kitchen, even over the cries of the creature. The ashtray shattered.
The house slid another foot, swaying like a boat at sea. The couch crashed into the recliner and Earl jumped free, abandoning Carl and wheeling on the rest of us. He still clutched a dripping shard of the ashtray in his hand.
Lying in a prone position, Sarah aimed and fired. The shot went wild.
The thing beneath our feet hissed like an industrial furnace ready to blow.
Sarah fired a second shot, catching Earl in the shoulder. He jerked backward and then grinned. Sarah pulled the trigger again as he flung the shard of glass at her. The third bullet plowed into Earl’s thigh. Another quake shook the house and Earl charged Sarah, leaping into the air despite his wounds. It was almost like he was possessed.
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I fought to stay conscious, while Kevin ran to help Sarah. Earl’s teeth sank into her wrist and her blood welled around his lips. Sarah shrieked, dropping the gun onto the tilting floor. The house rolled again, rattling the foundation. Kevin slid away from them, his hands grasping uselessly.
The tremor shook the hutch, and both it and the table slammed into me again. This time, something snapped—I heard a wet sound inside my chest. I cried out in agony, struggling to free both myself and the rifle. Every tiny movement was excruciating.
The floor splintered beneath Kevin and his lower half dropped through the hole. He clutched the broken timbers, holding on for dear life.
“Oh Jesus,” he screamed. “I can see it! It’s in the basement!”
With her free hand, Sarah dug her fingernails into Earl’s face, slashing at his nose and cheek. Skin peeled away, leaving red racing stripes. Worms burrowed beneath the wounds. Earl tried to scramble away, but Sarah rammed her elbow into the bullet wound in his shoulder.
“Not this time, you son of a bitch,” she snarled. “This time, I’ll make sure you don’t get back up.”
Carl rolled off the couch, dazed and bleeding.
“My God is hungry,” Earl rasped, and then punched Sarah in the face—once, twice, three times in rapid succession. Sarah’s shoulders sagged and blood streamed from her nose. Then, twisting her hair in his fist, Earl forced her head down and marched her past me across the rolling floor. Her body was limp and she put up no resistance. They were heading towards the basement.
I don’t know how he kept moving, how he stayed alive. Earl was in bad shape; a bloody, shot-up mess. But somehow, he refused to die. Perhaps whatever was crawling around inside his body had reanimated him. Taken control. Maybe there really was something to the black magic gibberish he’d been spouting before, or maybe he was just being bullheaded. I don’t know. I can only tell you that it was almost as frightening as the monster digging up through my basement floor.
Earl and Sarah reached the door. He gave her hair another twist, and she squealed.
“Sarah!” Kevin screamed, trying to free himself from the hole.
The rain pattered against the kitchen tiles.
“Carl,” I shouted. “Get up! My leg’s busted and I can’t get loose! You’ve got to help Sarah and Kevin!”
Carl shook his head, trying to clear it. He wiped the blood from his eyes and tottered to his feet.
“Come on, Carl,” I urged. “Move!”
Earl flung the basement door open and Sarah screamed. At the same time, Kevin freed himself from the hole.
I don’t know if it came from the open door or the chasm in the kitchen floor, but the stench was overpowering. It immediately filled the house, choking me with its ammonialike stench. My eyes and nose burned.
But as bad as the creature’s smell was, the sound—
Sarah teetered at the top of the basement steps. “Let me go, god damn you!”
“My pleasure, bitch!” Earl pushed her forward. Her shriek was cut short, lost beneath the cry of the great worm.
Kevin crept unsteadily past me as the floor began to shimmy again. Enraged, he threw himself at Earl and they both pitched forward into the cellar.
Carl made it across the floor to where I was pinned. Grunting with exertion, the two of us managed to push the table and the hutch aside. My leg and side throbbed when I moved, sending a fresh burst of pain that made further movement impossible.
“Where’s it hurt?” Carl asked me.
“My leg’s broke,” I panted, “and I might have busted a rib, too. I’m not sure. But don’t worry about me. Kevin and Sarah fell into the basement. Help them.”
But Carl wouldn’t listen. He lurched away, looking for something.
“Carl, what are you doing?”
“Finding something you can use for a crutch. Now hush. Just rest.”
I glanced around the kitchen in confusion, staring at the wreckage of my former life with Rose. Amazingly, the only thing that didn’t seem to have been destroyed was the kerosene heater. It had slid a few inches, but remained upright. The kettle had fallen to the floor and rolled away, but the heater itself stood firm.
“Carl, just forget about it!”
He didn’t answer, and passed from my sight.
I dragged myself forward to the doorway—each inch that I crawled was excruciating. Sweat broke out on my forehead and under my armpits, and my body began to tremble. The creature’s stink grew stronger—overpowering my senses as I drew closer. Finally, I reached the basement stairs and peeked over the edge, afraid for what I would find.
I screamed.
The cellar floor was gone, replaced by a giant, slavering mouth—at least twenty-feet wide. It sounds crazy, but that’s the only way to describe it. The entire floor had vanished and Behemoth’s mouth occupied the space where it had been. A small outcropping of concrete at the bottom of the stairway was all that remained. Kevin and
