Free Gears of a Mad God: A Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure by Brent Nichols Page B

Rod. And he's gone now.
Even without everything else that's happened, I might have left,
just to escape the memories." She shook her head. "Poor Rod. I miss
him so much."
    Colleen nodded.
Her uncle had left a bigger gap in her life than she ever would
have expected.
    "It's over, I
guess," said Jane. "This whole nightmare."
    "I guess it
is," said Colleen.
    "Thank you for
coming to get me. The others said you were the one who made them
come. You made them save me."
    Colleen blushed
and looked at the floor. "Well, you kept helping me."
    "Oh, posh. You
got me off of that horrible ship, and I'll never forget it. I don't
know where I'll end up, but wherever it is, you'll always be
welcome. You're my family now. I mean it."
    Colleen stared
at the other woman, speechless, and Jane grinned. "Now, don't get
all teary on me. You'll spoil your macho hero image."
    Colleen left
the hospital room feeling better than she had in quite some time.
The nightmare really was over. She was going to catch the next
ferry to the mainland and head immediately for Toronto. There, she
would be spending time with Roland. It was time she thought about
building a family of her own, a real family. A life with Roland,
far away from mad cults and murderous plots.
    She said her
goodbyes to Carter and left the hospital, feeling optimistic. Uncle
Rod's house wouldn't be worth much, but it would be enough to hire
a lawyer to handle his estate for her. Lawyers did that, didn’t
they? She doubted he owned the warehouse that contained his
workshop. Well, the lawyer could figure that out, and take care of
whatever needed doing.
    The streets of
Victoria, sunlit and bustling, made the dark machinations of the
cult seem distant. With police swarming all over the Arcadia , the cult's members dead or scattered, and witnesses
all around, the danger was clearly over. Colleen walked through
downtown, unescorted and unafraid. She would feel even safer once
she got back to Toronto. First, there was business to take care
of.
    She spoke to a
glib lawyer at a firm called Thorpe and Thorpe, pored over a fat
contract, and signed it. Everything would be left in the firm's
capable hands. She would go home and wait for a cheque.
    She went back
to her hotel room and sat on the bed. The next ferry left Victoria
the following day, at nine in the morning. She would have dinner,
get a good night's sleep, and leave early for the ferry port. She
glanced at her pillow. It looked marvellously soft, and she was so
exhausted she could barely sit up. Perhaps lying down wouldn't be a
bad idea, she decided. Just for a minute or two, until the worst of
this weariness passed. It wouldn't do to fall asleep.
    Sleep, of
course, took her almost immediately. She dreamed of Toronto, of
Jane, of the woman on the running board. Once again Colleen
stretched out her arm, pointing the gun, her finger tightened on
the trigger. The woman looked up, and it was Smith's face she saw
in the last split second before the gun went off.
    Her eyes flew
open. The room was dark, and her stomach rumbled loudly. She
wondered if she would still be able to find something to eat. In
the hotel, ideally. The idea of walking the streets of Victoria
after dark didn't hold much appeal.
    Her stomach
felt heavy, so much so that she was having trouble breathing. She
tried to touch her stomach with her hands and found that her arms
wouldn't move. She looked down at her body. It was obscured by a
dark shape. In the blackness of the room she couldn't figure out
what she was seeing. Then the mattress creaked and teeth gleamed
above her in a smile.
    She screamed,
and a hand closed over her mouth, silencing her in an instant. A
smell filled her nose, sweat and sawdust and grease, and she knew
it was Jimbo before he spoke. His voice was a coarse whisper.
    "Where is
Tanathos?"
    She flailed,
kicked her feet, sucked in desperate breaths through her nose and
tried to scream. Nothing came out but a muted whimper. He was
straddling her, his knees on