Once or twice Lazarus saw signs of the town’s residents. Fearful faces peered out through curtained windows, wondering who the armed newcomers were. From the looks in their eyes, however, it was not a completely new sight. With Professor Murder calling the town home, they had probably seen more than a few firefights.
The seat of Murder’s power was located in the center of town. The roads leading to the old City Hall were splintered from various subterranean upheavals and Lazarus led the way through the debris with careful movements, lest they all plunge into the abyss.
The front door of the building was open, making everyone tensed immediately. The likelihood that they were being led into a trap had just increased immeasurably. Lazarus gestured for everyone to remain vigilant as they passed through the open door.
Inside they found that the interior of the structure had been gutted, leaving the ground floor as one large laboratory with a second floor overlooking it. There were corpses everywhere, though from the looks of some them, a quick death would have been a mercy. They were covered with blisters and sores from their prolonged proximity to Die Glocke. The German super weapon stood quietly in the center of the lab and the sight of it was enough to cause Sporrenberg to shiver in recognition.
Samantha knelt beside one of the bodies, turning its head to the side. The motion revealed that the man’s skull had been brutally crushed.
“Who did this?” Eun asked aloud, counting the dead scientists as he took in the scene.
“Professor Murder.”
All eyes — and guns — turned in the direction of the woman who had spoken those words. It was a thin woman with wispy white hair, wearing oversized black glasses. She held a small handgun at her side. “My name is Ellen Dombrowski. I was in charge of this operation.”
Sporrenberg reached her first, gripping her hard by the elbow. “This machine has been recently used, hasn’t it? I can feel the electricity in the air.”
“It’s been used twice in the past few hours.” Dombrowski had a stunned look to her features and Sporrenberg roughly shook her in an attempt to get her to focus.
“Who used it? What did they do?”
Dombrowski stared at the German and then looked at the rest of Assistance Unlimited. “The Circus wanted to journey to Antichthon. Professor Murder betrayed them and sent them straight into the sun.”
“At least we don’t have to worry about them anymore,” Morgan said. He noticed that Eun had stripped off his mask and started to remind the younger man that Lazarus had ordered them to wear the protective gear at all times but he refrained from doing so. Eun was a grown man and if he wanted to risk his lungs, it was his right to do so. It wasn’t like Morgan hadn’t smoked more than his fair of cigarettes, which did the same thing.
Eun nodded, though his eyes remained fixed on Sporrenberg. The German had dropped his hold on Dombrowski and was now approaching Die Glocke, a look of mounting anger on his face. “You said it had been used twice. What else did Murder do with it?”
“He was visited by a German named Walther Lunt. Together, they decided to fulfill the mission that The Circus had set out to do. They went to awaken the great beast that slumbers on Antichthon. They hope that the monster will grant them the power it would have given to Twining.”
“Great beast?” Lazarus asked. He had grown increasingly concerned when he’d heard that Lunt had beaten them here but there was nothing to be done about that now. He had to focus on stopping whatever occurred from this point forward.
Dombrowski nodded, the shocked expression returning to her eyes. “I saw it, when they opened the portal. It raised its head and looked at us… and then it said… it said….”
“Tell us,” Lazarus pressed.
“It said. I am the forgotten spawn of God, the hideous brother. I wear my sins and they are never forgotten. Free me, and I shall give you a place at my side.”
Lazarus grimaced, an uncustomary show of emotion. He knew that both Lunt and Murder were sociopaths but to so willingly turn over their lives to a monster… it boggled the mind.
“We need to destroy the machine,” Sporrenberg said and Lazarus found himself nodding in agreement. “We can’t let them come back with that thing in tow.”
A bark of laughter erupted from Dombrowski and she raised a hand to cover her mouth. Tears were now flowing from the corners of her eyes and the fingers that were wrapped around her own gun twitched. “It’s too late. They’ve already come back. The beast killed all of these people.”
Lazarus looked around quickly. “Where are they?”
“Out back. They’re about to leave.” Her eyes closed and she began to recite something, her head bobbing with each word as if she were moving in time to music that only she could hear. “And the darkness shall be torn asunder and the great beast shall return from his prison. Singing and joyous sounds will emanate from the shadowy corners of Earth, for the age of man is ending. Do you hear the sounds of dark glory? Evil has a forked tongue and burned lips… Together they form the names of the beast. Nug-Rabib-Om! Jack-In-Irons! The-Giant-Who-Kills! This is the sound of chaos.”
Dombrowski then raised the barrel of her gun and quickly placed it in her mouth. Even as Lazarus yelled for her to stop, she was pulling the trigger. The back of her head exploded outward, painting the walls.
Samantha buried her head in Morgan’s shoulder and even Eun was forced to swallow the bile that rose up in his throat.
Lazarus, coated in the woman’s blood and brains, paused only a moment before heading towards the door. Sporrenberg was quick on his heels and the rest of the group followed soon after.
They found Lunt and Murder kneeling on the ground behind City Hall. Towering above them was a figure nearly sixteen feet in height. It had the body of a man but its head resembled a boar’s, complete with tusks that curved upward from its mouth. It was naked save for series of heavy chains fastened about its neck and a belt of human skulls, tied together with what appeared to be a loop of someone’s intestines. The creature held a large spiked club in his right hand and as the members of Assistance Unlimited approached, he turned his smoldering eyes upon them.
“More humans to join my forces… or to die at my hands. Which shall it be?” the creature bellowed and the stench that came from its open mouth was fierce enough that the heroes all recoiled, despite the gasmasks they wore.
Lazarus forced his gaze away from the monster, looking instead at Lunt and Murder. The two of them were staring with gaping mouths at the beast, grayish-green smoke drifting slowly from their eyes. They were obviously enslaved by the creature they’d freed and Lazarus wondered how much of their souls remained.
Before he could pursue those thoughts any further, the beast took a step towards them, the chains clanking loudly as he moved. “Swear fealty or I shall drench this ground in your blood!” the monster bellowed.
Sporrenberg answered by opening fire. His bullets dug bloody holes in the monster’s flesh but rather than falling, the creature seemed to become more enraged. He roared like the boar he resembled and slashed through the air with his club. It caught Sporrenberg in the side and sent him flying. He toppled over the heads of the Assistance Unlimited members, crashing hard on the roof.
Lazarus gave a quick motion to his aides, who launched into their own attacks. All of them spread out to make it more difficult for the monster to assault them but the creature smashed its club down with such strength that the ground shook, knocking Samantha off her feet and causing Morgan to lose his grip on his gun. It slid across the ground and vanished into a deep crevasse that was spewing clouds of hot air.