Free The Fallen 3 by Thomas E. Sniegoski Page B

They continued to pull on the man as he helplessly fought to escape them.
    And that was when Anatoli noticed that the rock looked almost liquid. The entire wall of rubble at Vadim’s back appeared insubstantial as whatever was on the other side drew him toward it.
    “Help me!” the man screamed pathetically.
    A spidery fingers emerged above Vadim’s head and sank its talons into his helmet, crushing it like an eggshell as it yanked his shrieking head through the liquefied stone, muffling his cries.
    Anatoli dove forward, grabbing hold of Vadim’s booted ankles. It became a bizarre parody of tug-of-war as something on the other side of the wall pulled furiously on Vadim. Anatoli held on for as long as he was able, but whatever was trying totake his friend was too strong. One of Vadim’s boots suddenly came loose, sending Anatoli falling backward upon the jagged rock.
    Anatoli sat on the ground, clutching the empty work boot to his chest as he watched the sock-covered foot of his friend drawn through the liquid stone to the other side. All Anatoli could do was stare at the wall that now seemed solid. He was tempted to touch the stone, to test it, but he was afraid that the hands would be waiting and he, too, would be snatched away.
    It was then that he recalled something his grandfather had said, way back when he’d first talked about working in the Ulyanovskaya mines. The old man had warned him that one day they would dig too deep and they would find themselves in Hell.
    And as the hands clawed through the rock again, this time behind the unconscious Nikolai, Anatoli knew that his grandfather had been right.
    They had gone too deep.
    And Hell was now coming for them.
    Nikolai was gone. He had disappeared through the wall of rock, and now Anatoli was alone with the corpses of his fellow workers.
    The air had become thicker, and he was finding it harder and harder to breathe, but Anatoli did not—would not—take his eyes from the wall of black, glistening stone through whichVadim and Nikolai had disappeared. His vision began to blur, his eyelids growing heavier with each passing minute.
    Anatoli had pushed himself into the center of the chamber, as far away from the wall as he could, terrified that the moment he lost his struggle with unconsciousness, Hell would come for him.
    But Hell was impatient; Hell was eager to take him now.
    “No!” Anatoli screamed as the wall across from him began to shimmer. First the clawed hands dug through, followed by the most horrific faces, and then dark, skeletal bodies. One by one they crawled out of the wall and across the loose rock and rubble toward him.
    From the corner of his eye he could see more creatures entering from the wall to his left, but they seemed to be focused on those who hadn’t survived the cave-in, dragging the bodies away, one by one.
    Anatoli kept his gaze fixed on the creatures before him, and attempted to push himself away from their relentless advance. Long, oily black hair hung in front of their faces, obscuring everything but their extra wide mouths, filled with razor-sharp teeth.
    He wasn’t a religious man, but Anatoli started to pray aloud; the Lord’s Prayer swam up from the recesses of his childhood memories. It had been years since he’d last attended church, but something told him that if he was going to believe in Hell, then there must be room for Heaven as well.
    “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.…”
    Still the creatures came, reaching long, clawed fingers toward him.
    “Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
    And then there was a flash of absolute brilliance, a light so bright and searing that for a moment he believed there had been another gas explosion, only this one appeared to be lacking any sound.
    The beasts hissed and wailed in the light, scrambling back across the loose earth toward the wall that separated this realm from their own.
    Blobs of black caused by the sudden brilliance