Free The Aberration by Bard Constantine Page A

nightmare.  But she knew it wasn’t.  Her stomach was a mire of gas and froth.  She couldn’t remember any dream where she had flatulence. 
    “Come on up.  Don’t be afraid.”
    Michael held an arm around her protectively, the only comfort she had to cling to.  So long as he was there, she could clutch to the foolish hope that they might make it out alive.  She and Guy both had their guns trained on the Drake puppet, but neither had fired.  There was no need.  Drake was obviously dead; the thing that jerked spasmodically in front of them was just a pulpy wad of lifeless flesh. 
    They backed away slowly, creeping down a few steps until Guy stopped.  The puppet continued its gibbering.
    “ Don’t be scared.  All you have to do is come up a few more steps.”
     They tried to ignore its babble as it gesticulated impatiently. 
    “No way we can go up further, Guy.” Michael’s voice had tapered to a ragged whisper.  “Not with something that can do… that .  Come with us.  We’ll have a better chance against the Others.”
    “No.”  Dry ice coated Guy’s voice.  “They have fully evolved now.  There is no way to get past them.  You have to trust me, Michael.  We can get through this if we stick together.”
    “Don’t be afraid…”
    “Guy… I can’t.”  Michael’s sweaty face contorted in indecision.  Fran wanted to cry at his expression.  “This is beyond sick.  I can’t go up there… you understand, don’t you?  I just can’t.”
    “Come on up…”
    Guy looked at them for a moment before he reluctantly nodded.  “I understand.”
    “Come with us, then.”
    “I can’t.”
    “ Don’t be scared …”
    “You can’t face whatever’s up there, Guy!  None of us can.  You’re just going to die like Drake did.”
    Guy’s face was almost hidden in the gloom, but his eyes shone with terrible intensity, making his words all the more ominous.
    “You are closer to death than I am, Michael.  You forget that I’ve seen these kinds of things before.  If you go back, you go without me.  We never look back.  There is nothing except death behind us.”
    For some reason she desperately wanted to tell Michael change his mind.  It was something in Guy’s voice, something dark and terrible, like… prophecy.  Yet her tongue thickened; her throat constricted on the words before she could utter them. 
    The instant shattered when Michael turned away with an inarticulate cry.
    “Come on, Fran.  We have to go now.”  As he pulled her away, she realized how good it felt to move , to recede from the perverted scene.  Guy appeared terribly alone as she took a last look behind; he stood in the darkness with a shotgun and a pen flashlight; small defense against the heavy gloom that coagulated with every step that separated them.  The Drake puppet was a bizarre shadow that writhed among other shadows, a whispered voice that crawled in her ear in a final attempt to drive her mad.
    “Come back.  You’re going the wrong way …”
    She turned and descended after Michael, leaving Guy to his fate.
    “Come on , Fran.”  Michael’s whisper was urgent as he seized her arm.  It struck her then that Michael was terribly afraid.  He had been able to summon a façade of boldness before, but that house of cards had collapsed when they had separated from Guy.  Now that it was on him to make decisions, she could see the doubt and fear that flickered across his face. 
    They stopped at the fifth floor doorway.  Michael looked around frantically.  “Did you hear that?”
    She tried to swallow the sagebrush that dragged in her throat.  “What is it?”
    “I thought I heard…”  His eyes stretched to golf balls, but the gloom was thick and his light grew dimmer by the second.  He rapped the flashlight, but it stubbornly continued to defy him.
    “Damn…  Let’s step inside for a minute.  The emergency lights are still on.  I can’t take this darkness anymore.  Do you