'Dammit, Stroud, let's do it!' she shouted.
Wisnewski frowned and Leonard said, 'She may be of valuable assistance, and we'll need all the assistance we can get, Dr. Stroud.'
Stroud saw that he was outnumbered now. 'All right, all right ... but you stick close to me, do you understand?'
'Absolutely.'
'Everyone ready?'
'Let's be on our way,' said Wiz.
'Before I break down,' added Leonard.
Stroud instructed them all to get their gear up to the waiting helicopter immediately.
* * * *
As the helicopter hovered over the sight of the army of zombies that continued to draw innocent people down and down into the hole at its center, Stroud and the others stared in rapt fear and awe at the power this evil wielded from below. 'We're going in!' shouted Stroud.
'It's madness to attempt it!' shouted Leonard from the rear, seated beside Wiz.
'The skull will protect us!'
'For how long?'
'For as long as it takes! Dr. Leonard, you will not be returned completely to normal unless you face this thing.'
'I may be dead before I'm cured of my fear, Stroud.'
Wisnewski tried to console his friend in the rear of the chopper while Kendra Cline stared from the crystal skull on the console of the helicopter, in plain view, to the horror below. As she did so a light began to grow from within the skull and the light gained in intensity and vigor as they neared their destination. The light shone down on the colony of zombies like a strobe beacon and suddenly there was a halt to the frantic, insectlike work of the zombies, and then they stopped altogether.
'I see it, but I don't believe it,' she told Stroud.
'So far, so good,' he replied, setting the machine down in the midst of the mob. They were completely surrounded by thousands upon thousands of zombies.
'They will let us pass,' Stroud tried to assure the others, who were not fighting at their seatbelts to step from the false safety of the bubble they sat behind.
'Can we be sure of that?' asked a worried Wiz.
'Yes, now hurry!' Stroud's voice was tinged with a mix of anxious frustration and a healthy fear of his own as he climbed from the pilot's seat, taking the skull firmly in one hand, his helmet in another. They all got out, strapping on and snapping down the last remaining portions of their protective wear as the zombies looked on in wide-eyed silence, a green eerie glow about them where their own eyes emanated a strange light. They were a ragtag army of people from all walks, all ages and all manner of dress, their clothes torn, soggy and soiled, many wearing clothes stained with blood. Kendra tried to keep her mind focused on Stroud and the skull, as did Wiz, pulling at Leonard to stay close.
The zombies, whose bodies formed the final barricade around the pit leading to the ship, parted as they neared them; they did so in mechanical, silent fashion. 'Very obliging,' said Stroud.
'Too obliging,' replied Kendra.
'Once inside, we will have the upper hand,' Stroud promised them all.
'What's to keep these fiends from sealing us inside with this evil?' asked Leonard. 'None, none at all! I'm going back!'
Leonard bolted for the helicopter, pulling free of Wiz. Stroud rushed after and the wall of zombies moved in at them as Stroud caught Leonard. The zombies began their eerie chant and Stroud held the skull overhead, reflecting the green glow in a concentrated beam, changing their
Wiz and Kendra supported Leonard as they again moved toward the mouth of the Hell before them. It appeared blacker now than it had been when they had first entered it only a few days before. So much had happened since then; so many people had died, and so many others had been transformed into executioners.
'Move along ... move along,' Stroud ushered the others in and Kendra had the unsettling thought that this vile creature was possibly much more cunning than they'd given it credit for, and that Stroud was as yet under its influence the way he was herding them into this black inferno. He looked at her suddenly, as if reading her mind, and said, 'Trust me, Kendra ... trust me.'
'Yeah ... I'm trying ... trying.'
The light in the skull had dimmed as soon as they came within stepping distance of the pit itself. Part of the bow of the ship was visible here and Wiz placed a shaky hand on it, drawing his protected, gloved hand along the petrified remnants.
'Where do we go from here, Stroud?' he asked.
'The geographic center of the ship, but getting to it will be difficult to say the least. We can expect obstacles thrown up along our way.'
'Obstacles?' asked Leonard.
'As before.'
'But why?' asked Kendra, who had been debriefed by Stroud and the others on the details of their first encounter with the supernatural forces abounding in the ship. Even this deterrent hadn't kept her back. A video recording the same information had been left with Commissioner Nathan in the event they did not return.
'Yes, Abe, why would it place obstacles in our way if it parted the zombies for us?'
'It wants the crystal and Esruad, but it wants them on its terms, and down here, it makes the terms. We must be prepared for anything.'
'We are,' said Wiz, hefting his dart gun, looking awkward doing so.
Kendra held firm to the wand of her gas jet and said, 'I only pray this will be enough.'
Stroud saw, as did Leonard and Wiz, that the corridor leading into the pit had widened considerably, dug out by the army of working zombies the evil had employed. Before them lay a network of crisscrossing and parallel tunnels, which ran, it appeared, completely around the ship, the walls dripping with dampness. It was a labyrinth of darkness, cell upon cell of stored carcasses placed in beehive fashion into the walls and covered over with a waxy gauze. Stroud handed the skull to Kendra, investigating one of the cells. There were five dead to a hive, except that they weren't completely dead. Most were maimed, parts ripped from them, some looking as if they'd been bitten near to death, others without skin. They were the victims of the monster that had grown bored with them, and so put aside for later. It was storing the bodies after feeding on them, putting them up with the help of the zombie servants. It would return to them later for a second and third feeding. In so doing, it sapped away their spirits, their souls, Stroud realized.
Kendra and the others were spared the sight of the helpless, limbless creatures put up in storage in small cells oozing with the brown muck of the monster. Stroud knew that they could see the awkward shadows through the gauze and hear the awful babble of men without tongues, but he moved his party along, going ever deeper into the pit. There was only one way to help the suffering, only one way to save the city and the world from this terror.
'We've got to get into the ship itself,' Stroud told the others.
'Easier said than done,' replied Wiz. 'Look.'
They stared at the enormous, hideous creature guarding the only entry way open to them, the entrance they had once before used. The thing at the portal of rotten timbers had no visible or discernible face, but its limbs were long, hanging to its sides to what would be the knees on a man. It was bestial in appearance, much like a grizzly bear, save for the fact it had no snout, no eyes, and yet it seemed to be staring out at them from untold eyes as it sent a long, trailing feeler toward Leonard, who raced to get away from it, shouting and jumping.
'Use your weapons!' Stroud said, and they all began to fire on the beast, Kendra sending up a cloud of gas.
'This way, this way!' Leonard was shouting and rushing on, deeper into the pit.
