Earl struggled on this tiny alcove, while Sarah lay bleeding on the stairs. Below them, the worm pulsed and quivered hungrily, the massive throat convulsing. Its mouth was lined with lamprey-like tentacles, each one tipped with another tinier mouth of its own. These smaller mouths opened, even thinner tendrils emerging from them. Then, rising from the center of Behemoth’s throat, rose a stalklike tongue composed of more worms, blind and wriggling. All of the tentacle-worms chirped greedily, sensing the prey above them.
“I found this—my God…,” Carl gasped behind me. Blood still dripped from the ugly-looking gash on his forehead. He held a baseball bat in one hand, which I guess he’d thought I could use for a crutch.
He gaped at the creature below us. Then, without another word, he turned and fled.
“Carl!” I was shocked and dismayed. I’d known Carl for most of my adult life, and never once had I known him to be a coward.
Earl shoved Kevin toward the edge of the pit. Kevin punched him in the temple. Snarling, Earl punched him back. Kevin dodged the blow, brought his knee up into Earl’s crotch and then grabbed the madman by his neck and waistband. With a single, mighty heave, he threw Earl over the side.
Behemoth roared, as did the small worms inside his mouth.
Earl screamed, twisting in midair. The wormtongues stretched forward in eager anticipation. Pale slime dripped from their mouths. Earl latched on to a jutting piece of floor support and clung to it, dangling over the stinking maw. The earthworms inside of him wriggled from his gunshot wounds and burst through his arms and cheeks. One uncoiled from his ear and plummeted down into the pit.
“I—I worship you,” he cried out. “Lord, please!”
“Kevin,” I shouted as best I could, weak from the pain in my leg. “Sarah! Let’s go.”
Sarah didn’t move.
My leg was starting to swell, and when I coughed blood leaked from the corner of my mouth. Then my ears began to ring and my face felt flushed. I knew enough to recognize that I was going into shock.
“Hurry,” I gasped.
Kevin stood at the edge of the concrete and stared down at Earl.
Earl’s fingers slipped on the concrete and he struggled to hold on. “What are you looking at, boy? Give me a hand.”
“You shot down our helicopter,” Kevin said. “You killed our friends.”
Earl’s arms trembled and his face turned white. More earthworms dug their way out of his flesh. “Y-yeah, but I’m—”
Kevin stomped on his fingers. Hard. Hard enough to make me wince, despite my own pain, and despite everything that Earl had done. Screeching, Earl lost his grip and fell. His scream lasted only as long as his descent —about two seconds.
Then, the worm-tongues inside Behemoth’s throat began to feed. At the same time, the throat muscles contracted and Earl was drawn farther inside.
Kevin picked up Sarah and plodded up the swaying staircase.
Beneath him, Behemoth swallowed Earl with a noxious, gaseous belch. Then the mouth opened again and the tentacles began to slither upward, feeling their way across the bottom stair.
“Please, hurry,” I coughed, and more blood trickled from my mouth. Each cough brought a sharp, stabbing pain in my side.
Suddenly, I sensed movement behind me and saw Kevin’s eyes grow wide. I turned around and there was Carl, wearing a pair of oven mitts and lugging the still hot kerosene heater.
“I thought you ran off,” I told him, smiling weakly.
“Not hardly.” His bloody expression was one of wounded pride. “Why would you think something like that, Teddy? After all we’ve been through? I didn’t run off. I just went and cooked something up.”
I coughed blood and nodded at the kerosene heater. “Isn’t that a bit hot?”
He nodded, struggling to hold the heater upright. “Yeah, and it’s burning a hole through these here oven mitts. This thing got one of those automatic safety shut off switches?”
“No,” I groaned, as Sarah and Kevin stumbled out of the tilting stairwell.
“Good,” Carl said. “Then get out of my way.”
Kevin gently sat Sarah down. “Can you stand?” he asked her.
“Yeah.” She nodded, and then caught sight of my leg and the blood leaking from my lips. “Teddy, what happened?”
“I’ll be okay.” I smiled, trying to reassure her. “Been through worse back during the war.”
Kevin stood up. “We’ve got to get you guys out of here. Mr. Seaton, what are you doing with that kerosene heater?”
Carl nodded towards the basement stairs. “Reckon we’ll see if that big ugly bastard likes hot food.”
Wincing, I dug into my pants pocket and tossed Kevin the keys to my truck. I was thankful that I’d put them there before the table and hutch had pinned me against the wall. Otherwise, they’d be lost now, scattered by the rolling floor.
Kevin caught them with one hand. “What now?”
“I want you to go start my truck. I don’t know if Earl messed with it or not, but we need to find out. Take Sarah with you.”
“But what about you guys?” Kevin asked.
“Don’t you worry about us,” Carl said. “We’ll be right behind you.”
“We’ve got to help you out of here, Teddy,” Sarah argued. “And Carl—you’ve probably got a concussion. Your head is really bleeding.”
“I’m fine. Just a scratch.” He sat the heater down.
“It’s not a scratch,” she said. “And neither one of you is fine!”
“You just go with Kevin,” I shouted back. “See if my truck starts. If it does, then get out of here. Go to the end of my lane, hang a right, and just keep on going till you run out of road. When that happens, you’ll be at Bald Knob, where the big forest ranger tower is. You can’t miss it.”
“Wait a minute,” Kevin spoke up, startled. “That doesn’t make sense at all. We sure as hell aren’t leaving you guys behind!”
“You’re not,” I said. “Once we’ve taken care of ol’ Behemoth, we’ll follow along behind you in Carl’s truck. We’ll all meet up at Bald Knob.”
Kevin frowned. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Listen. Carl and me—we’re old. Even if we make it through this, we don’t have much time left in this world.” I glanced down at my leg, and then back up to them. “Somebody needs to kill this thing, or try to at least. There’s no sense in sacrificing all of us, if things don’t go well. Now I’m tired of arguing. There’s no time.”
Sarah touched my shoulder. “But—”
“Go,” I said, and then broke into another coughing fit.
“Don’t worry,” Carl said, and picked up the heater again. “We’ll be along soon as we kill it.”
“Is that going to work?” Kevin asked, skeptically.
Carl nodded. “I reckon so. At the very least, it’ll give him a nasty case of indigestion.”
“What if there are more of those creatures outside?” Sarah asked. “How will we get past them?”
“We’ll just have to take that chance,” Kevin said, jangling the keys.
“Now go,” I told them. “Please?”
Kevin tugged on her arm. Below us, Behemoth roared. I could hear the tentacle things sliding on the stairs, inching higher. The house began to shake again.
Sarah turned back to Carl and I. “You promise you’ll meet us at Bald Knob?”
I nodded. “We promise.”
“If we’re able,” Carl added.
They stumbled out the kitchen door, pausing to wade through the pile of worms on the carport. Sarah gave us one last backward glance and then they were gone.
I looked up at Carl. “You really think that heater will hurt it?”
“It’s worth a try. Bullets sure ain’t doing much.”
“Well, then nail that thing and drag me the hell out of here.”
He nodded grimly and stepped up to the edge of the stairway. “Take a deep breath, you big ugly bastard,
