The Anomaly(93)

“I didn’t think I was going to need it,” I said, hauling myself into a more upright position. “And, you know, fingerprints and shit.”

“Oh,” he said. “Yeah, fair point. Well, whatever.” He winked. “I stand by my decision to pick it up.”

“Me too. But…how are you still alive? How?”

“No one’s more surprised than me, mate.”

“But we heard you…”

“Covered this already while you were snoozing. The executive summary is that yelling out like an injured thing was the best idea I could come up with to draw those creatures away from you all. And it worked. Bit too well, if I’m honest. Suddenly they’re both haring after me and I’m running but bottom line is it’s dark, I have no idea where I’m going, and it’s seeming increasingly likely I’m on my way to meet my maker, which is not an encounter either of us would be likely to enjoy. Anyway, so I’m pelting down the opposite corridor and they’re getting closer and I realize I’m nearly at the end and have nowhere to go except…The room with the original pool in it. So I do the only thing I can do, which is run down there and jump in.

“And you know the funny thing? They can’t fucking swim, either. Worse than me, even. Who’s going to have taught them, right? So I went to the end, scrabbled up onto that platform. As I’m watching them I grabbed the smallest of the balls you and Pierre got out, and dropped it down onto the console thing. Smashed it up like a beauty. Anyway, so they’re thrashing around in the water still trying to get me and I see they’re getting their shit together disappointingly quickly. So I jump back in and get back to the other side and go running back the other way. They follow. So I’m back to square one. Except…”

“What’s that smell?” I said.

“Exactly. Come on—stand up.”

He and Pierre pulled me up to my feet. My legs felt woolly and insubstantial. Molly was standing a couple of yards up the corridor, looking tense.

“Hey, Moll,” I said groggily.

“We should go,” she said. “We have no idea what else is coming down that shaft.”

“She’s right,” Ken said. “But okay, look.”

He pointed down at the giant. Portions of its skin were sloughing off, rotting down to a black, thick liquid. The rest was darker than it had been, too. The smell, though as yet mild, was the same as we’d encountered in the room upstairs.

“What’s happening to it?”

“Got me, mate. But it’s happening upstairs, too. One of the things after me had killed one of the wolves prior to that, and the remains were doing exactly the same thing. And something else. That big ball? It started moving.”

“What?”

“Very slowly. But it was starting to come back up the passageway. I have no idea how, but whatever. Those little pyramid things are getting hotter and hotter, too. I put my hand on one and it was actually pulsing. I think the site’s being reset, Nolan—like they’re preparing to film the whole sequence again. Take two. When I was in the pool room, there were new balls up on the platform at the end.”

Pierre stared at him. “From where?”

“Dunno. Out of the wall. Or dropped out of the ceiling. There were a lot of thuds going on. Anyway, I get to the room that smells and it’s drained out—and you know what? I’m wondering if all that gunk was in fact the remains of creatures from the last time this happened. I got across and up into the fissure and the rest is history. Somehow, whatever runs this thing knows it got triggered too early. It’s turning itself off. Winding everything back. You saw the map room, right?”

“Saw it and took pictures.”

“Nice. You’re a pro, Nolan. I’ve always said so. Well, sometimes. Once, maybe.”

“Was one of the lights flashing when you came through? Quite slowly?”

“Yeah, but no. It was going really fast.”

“Please, guys,” Molly said. “Let’s leave. So far we’ve only gotten rid of one of the cleanup crew, remember?”

“I emptied the gun into it, too,” Ken said. “So, yeah. No more bullets. Moll’s right. It’s time to vacate the premises.”

I looked at him. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

“Yeah, me too, mate. You still got that cigarette?”

I pulled out the pack. Inside was the unsmokably broken remains of the last Marlboro Light. “Oh.”

“Fuck’s sake. Wish I hadn’t bothered to save you now.”



We made it to the end of the corridor—Molly supporting me around my waist, Ken doing the same for Pierre, who’d gotten a twisted knee when he was thrown down the tunnel by the giant.

We stood for a moment at the opening, looking out into the night. The air was cold and fresh and pure. There were stars. There was moonlight.

I had something like a panic attack when it came to starting the climb. A full-body I can’t do this reaction. It didn’t last long. I had to do it.

“We’re going to take it slow,” Molly said.

I hadn’t voiced anything out loud, wouldn’t have thought anybody could have known what was going through my head. But she knew.



Pierre went first. Me second, then Ken and finally Molly. In our current states, every single one of the men was more likely to fall off the wall than she was, and we knew it.