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The Tormentor
I didn’t consider either of those much of a choice. No matter which I chose, we were both going to die. “I’ll be the... food. Just let her go. Like Lester promised you would.”
He grabbed the back of my collar, lifted me off the floor so that my face met his, and snarled, “I promised nothing.”
“You son of a bitch!” I spat.
He gripped the back of my hair and shoved my face in the water. I held my breath and squirmed. I was helpless. Not having my hands free was a frightening feeling. I tried to pull my wrists apart, twist, and fight to break the duct tape, but I was at his mercy.
My face hit the water with a hard smack, and I felt my spirit rip away from my body, leaving me empty. My spirit self floated far below the surface of the water. I still felt my body outside the pool, but it was far away from me and struggling to breathe.
I am dead, I told myself. This is it. I gulped in fear. You’re not dead, my other inner voice argued. Just hold your breath.
While immersed, I opened my eyes and saw a dark figure far below. It was a giant monster with hundreds of arms and jagged claws that reached up to the surface. After a second, I recognized the shape for what it really was: an immense tree several feet below—in their world. The arms and claws were branches. No—not branches... tree roots. It was an upside-down tree with its roots planted in our world, feeding from our world.
Entangled in the roots was a small, dark creature. Though humanoid, with arms and legs, its form was as black as the night and thin like a stick. Its face consisted of only a nose, no mouth or eyes. It sensed I was there and moved its head in my direction. It was his beloved Chokanna!
Beyond her, I saw their realm below. I was amazed at the clarity, as if the water had no effect on my vision, and I saw mountains in the distance—tall, narrow, and jagged monoliths of stone. Purple lightning shot out and electrified the tops of them, revealing a dark form of immense size approaching the tree. Then Beaumont suddenly jerked my head back.
As if pulled by a powerful force, my soul flew back into my body. Tingles of life returned to my fingers and toes, and I felt different, reborn somehow.
I gasped for air desperately once Beaumont pulled my head out of the water, and I burped from the water I’d swallowed.
Dawn was screaming my name. “Ret!”
Beaumont chuckled. “How should I murder you? Should I drown you?” He brought a knife to my throat and pressed the blade to my skin. “Slit your throat?”
“No! Please no!” Dawn pleaded. “You can’t do this!”
“You could use a new grin.” He chuckled. The muscles in his arms and hands tensed, and he made a hissing sound between his teeth. He was going to enjoy killing me. He raised the knife, and mere seconds of my life remained.
Mathilda popped up out of nowhere. The ghost of the Crooked House ran through me, and her face materialized in front of Beaumont’s. Her face pressed against Beaumont’s, and he stared back at her, stunned. She opened her mouth wide and loosed a wretched, high-pitched wail that shook the house.
The shock was enough to cause Beaumont to release me, and he stumbled back. I crumpled to the floor, gasping. I felt blood run down my throat. The bastard cut me! I didn’t know how bad yet and hoped it wasn’t fatal.
“Bitch!” he howled at the ghost in frustration.
Gunshots rang out, and Beaumont’s body shuddered as two bullets pounded his chest. He looked down at his body. Blood blossomed through the torn holes in his white shirt and tie, but he had no reaction to the pain or damage.
He looked up at the assailant. I turned and saw Sheriff Packard halfway down the stairwell. He crouched and aimed his gun.
There was silence for a moment before Packard broke it, speaking slowly and forcefully. “Nobody move.”
“You’re not the threat you think you are,” Beaumont said. “You kill this body, then I’ll just take yours.” He pointed then glanced at Todd Harrison and commanded him with a nod.
Packard turned to Todd, shock in his eyes to see Harrison alive.
Todd took five stairs in one massive leap, grabbed Packard’s gun hand, smashed it against the wall, and swung his other fist down to hit him. Sheriff Packard blocked it with his other arm and was quickly engaged in a fight with a man nearly twice his size and powered by a demon inside. Mathilda continued to distract Beaumont with screams in his face, despite his attempts to move and run from her.
I saw the axe next to Dawn and rolled my body over to her. She turned herself so her tied hands could pick up the blade of the axe. I turned my back against it and, with my fingers, guided the blade of the axe toward the tape that bound me. It was slippery with blood. I sliced my finger, but after a few tries, the blade made contact with the tape. The axe cut through the tape like butter, and I yanked my hands apart.
I turned and quickly freed Dawn. We shared a glance, and my first panicked thought was to run, but I knew we wouldn’t get far. The fat guy and the old man had been slow to react at first, but they charged us.
I grabbed my satchel, pulled out the baggies of salt, and handed two to Dawn.
“Wha—”
“Trust me. Open the top, then throw it at them. In the face would be best.”
The fat man grabbed for her, and she did as I’d instructed her. The bag hit him square in the face. A cloud of salt covered his entire head, and he backed away, yelping like a hurt dog.
The old man grabbed my shoulders and pulled on me. I twisted and smashed a baggie against his face just as he sucked in air. He fell back, gasping and coughing. With sizzle and smoke, holes opened in his throat, and vapors escaped.
Lester cowered in the corner, staring in awe at the crumbling plan.
Packard snapped a foot into Todd’s gut, doubled him over, and smashed two roundhouse punches to his face.
“Help him!” Beaumont shouted to Lester and pointed at Todd.
Finally ignoring Mathilda altogether, Beaumont marched toward us and the axe. He kicked Dawn in the ribs, and she fell. I withdrew my knife from the satchel and sliced it at him. It cut open his hand, but he still picked up the axe.
Packard had dropped his gun during the fray, but after managing to pick it up again, he aimed it at Todd, who twisted his body out of the line of fire just as Lester ran up the stairs to help him.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four bloody wounds popped open in Lester’s chest and stopped him cold. He shivered and gasped, eyes pleading for mercy, then he toppled. Packard’s revolver was out of bullets, and he didn’t have time to reload before Harrison lunged at him.
Packard stood and smacked the butt of his pistol against Todd’s temple then brought it around again, crashing into his nose. Blood sprayed from Todd’s nostrils as his head was knocked back. The sheriff shot a kick to Todd’s chest and sent him flying. He dropped to the floor at the foot of the stairs.
With madness in his eyes and clenched teeth, Beaumont charged toward me, gripping the axe with both hands. I backpedaled and was stopped by the wall behind me. He raised the axe high above his head just before Dawn threw her second bag of salt into his face. He winced, trying to cover his eyes, and released the axe. He sucked in the cloud of salt and coughed, stumbling backward.
“Ret! Dawn! You two okay?” Packard ran over to us.
Reeling from how close I’d come to death, I needed a moment to respond. I took a deep breath as Dawn shuffled to my side, and I turned to Packard.
“You came?” I said to Packard.
“I got your message. I figured you’d be here.” He smiled, and Dawn wrapped her arms around him in relief.
Harrison stood up and shook the cobwebs from his head.
“We gotta go,” the sheriff said.
A deep, guttural growl from below us shook the floorboards and the walls. It was heavy and loud, like the horn of a locomotive, but with a low baritone. The sound reverberated throughout the cellar, toppling old jars and cans from shelves in the back corner. Cracks in the concrete floor spread like spiderwebs as if a colossal force were trying to enter from below.
Everyone froze.
I looked at Beaumont. His face shook with more terror than I had ever seen. All the blood drained from his face, his mouth dropped open, and his bloodshot eyes widened. A tear ran from his right eye. The others shared the same look.
The wailing growl came again, louder and more forcefully. The entire house shook. It threatened to crumble on us at any moment. The pool bubbled and splashed. Blue rays of light bounced off the walls and throughout the basement.
“It’s coming.” Beaumont whimpered and looked at his friends sorrowfully. “It found us!”
“What’s going on?” Packard asked.
Beaumont started to run but grabbed his chest in pain. The gunshots were starting to take their toll on him.
I remembered the form I’d seen approaching the bottom of the pool in the other world, and I knew we had to make a run for it, but Harrison and the other two things were blocking the stairs. Beaumont was on the other side of the well, backing up.
“This thing is here for them. Let’s stay out of his way, and maybe we’ll be all right.”
We backed up as far as we could to the opposite corner and crouched. A geyser shot from the well and sprayed all of us. Rising from the pool, so gigantic it filled the entire opening, was a beast so tall that it had to bend its head from the ceiling. It planted muscled arms flat on the floor on either side of the pool. Black claws six inches long curled from the tip of each finger and clacked against the cement floor. Its head was similar to a man’s, but it had wide nostrils and a mouth full of sharp teeth. A thick vine covered with sharp three-inch thorns was wrapped around his face in an uneven fashion, pressed so tightly against its skin that flesh bulged and leaked blood. The thorny vine ran down its neck and continued around its torso and arms. Its black skin was coarse with scales, and long hair draped its shoulders.
Two thorns pressed into its eyes. Blinded, it used other senses to find its prey. The creature opened its maw filled with rows of razor teeth and howled so loudly that I thought my head would burst open like a melon.
Todd Harrison bolted for the stairs, and the recovered fat man and old guy followed him.
“Cerran! Jubaia!” Beaumont called to them in his native tongue. They glanced back but continued to run.
Beaumont finally found his feet and ran, but the creature was fast like a cat after its dinner. One clawed hand snatched him from the floor, tore through his body, withdrew the glowing soul from his corpse, and popped it into the gaping maw. The torn form of Mr. Beaumont splashed to the floor.
Trembling uncontrollably, the three of us clung to each other and watched in horror as it plucked the fat man and the old guy off the stairs before they reached the landing, tore through their bodies, and devoured their souls.
Harrison had made it through the basement door. I heard his footfalls as he ran to escape the house. The giant creature scrambled up the stairwell after him.
The creature was too large for the stairway, and it demolished the steps and part of the ceiling. The wooden floor joists above us snapped, raining dust, as the creature forced its upper body to the first level.
The Tormentor’s torso stretched through the pool and seemed to go on forever. I never saw its legs or the rest of its body—if it had any, those parts remained below. The entire house tipped toward the beast because of its weight, and we began to slide across the floor. Harrison squealed, but the sound was cut short by a loud crunch.
The Tormentor lowered itself back into the basement, dragging broken floorboards and stirring up clouds of dust and debris. Torn clothes hung from the jagged teeth, and the beast munched on its dinner without much care. I watched with fearful anticipation of what it would do next.
It snorted, sniffed the air, and turned to us. Its blind gaze locked on us like targets. We stared at the beast, and it stared at us. No one moved.
As it started to open its mouth, Dawn grabbed the last two bags of salt from me and ran toward the beast.
“Dawn!” I yelled after her.
She dodged its massive claw, careening toward the pool. The Tormentor twisted her way. She slammed the last two bags into a small space between its body and the lip of the pool just as the creature swiped at her.
Her back arched, and she flew forward then disappeared into the cloud of salt, smoke, and sputtering water.
An explosion erupted from the pool, and the Tormentor wailed in pain. Water crackled, and it suddenly looked more like acid than water as the creature began to sink back into the pool.
Its claws scrabbled wildly at the cement floor, scraping and clicking against the cement, searching for the one who’d hurt it. The Tormentor bucked and twisted as the water boiled higher all around it. The pool sizzled and popped like cold water tossed into hot grease, and something pulled the creature down below the surface.