Shadows Out of Time

O’Reilly prodded a small keypad on the side of the cylindrical device. He nodded. The company wasted no time in starting back along the wide spoke. As they all broke into a steady trot, their nerves were tormented by the fear of what they had seen, as if by its very nature it would realize what had happened and accelerate the process of completing the cycle. Around them the air quivered with a new energy, suggesting whatever spirits and demons infested these huge hallways had come to life, enraged and engorged with the desire for retribution. Climbing back on to the wide stairway, the company made its way upwards, knowing instinctively that something pursued it. Twisted sounds came up from below, sounds that grated along the very bones of the puny humans, in a realm where gods must once have walked.

Almost exhausted to a man, they came again to the apex of the spiral stairway, to the ruins of the citadel near to the mouth of the cleft leading back out into the desert. They paused briefly, Mamoudou warning them against rushing outside. Although something was rising from the deeps, and other, strange sounds welled up from the meandering streets around them, he had sensed further perils outside. One of the Arabs spoke to him and he nodded.

“What is it?” said Phillips.

“One of my men, Razak, will scout ahead. There are but two hours before dawn. Razak will find the two men we left behind with the camels and bring them close to the exit. Then we can ride like the wind.”

It took all Mamoudou’s persuasive powers to keep his men here in the street, knowing that something came ever closer from below. They could hear a huge, ponderous thudding and the cracking of stone, as though a colossal worm thrust itself upwards on that wide stair. In the buildings, shadows shifted as something else woke from an age-old sleep.

Mamoudou’s man had come back to them and waved them forward. Relieved, the Arabs dashed past the last buildings to the high cleft, Phillips and the engineers bringing up the rear. Phillips trained both his flashlight and his weapon on the darkness behind him. He had an impression of something huge and slick. Gunfire ahead snapped his head round.

O’Reilly and Garner were both swearing, urging Phillips to take cover. They ducked behind a low wall. Mamoudou appeared, holding his arm to his side. He was leaking blood, his teeth clamped against the pain.

“A trap!” he snarled. “And my men were caught in it, like rats.”

“Al-Qaeda?” said Phillips.

Mamoudou nodded. “Razak was the spy I feared. He has led them to us. They have killed the men we left behind and scattered the camels. The devils are coming for us. The last of my men will fight them off, but there are too many of them. It is only a matter of time before they are killed.”

Phillips cursed. “Even if we can hold them off, whatever is behind us will be here soon. We’ll be lucky to see this out to daylight.”

“They have come for the weapon,” said Mamoudou. “Razak must have told them of it. He must have a cell phone. Can the bomb be stopped?”

O’Reilly grunted. “It’s a simple enough device. Easily deactivated. Can we hold them off for twenty-four hours? If it is Al-Qaeda, we can’t let them get their hands on that bomb.”

“I’m more concerned about whatever is back in the passageway,” said Phillips.

“There is said to be another passage, leading upwards to an old observation tower,” said Mamoudou. “You must go through these ruins and climb it, up to the crest of the escarpment. I will provide cover.”

Phillips and the others knew their guide would not survive.

“Whatever is coming,” he said, “whatever these unspeakable gods have unleashed — it will feed on these devils. It will be worth giving up my life to see this!” He gasped out instructions as to where the second passageway would be.

The gunfire beyond intensified. Phillips led the engineers through the maze of collapsed buildings. From all sides they could hear things rising up from the debris, creatures roused by the noise of gunfire and the scent of human intrusion. The men all loosed off bursts of fire at the darkness, barely one step ahead of terror, but they made it to the secondary passage Mamoudou had spoken of. Its stair was cluttered and choked with rubble, but they managed to climb upwards. Below, beyond the buildings on the wide stair to the deeps, something broke from the darkness and Phillips caught a glimpse of numerous shapes, the size of large dogs. Barrel-like, their numerous legs writhed like the cilia of centipedes, their front ends a wide mouth like that of a lamprey. Behind them the larger creature clawed at the stone, bringing down low stone buildings in its enraged determination to break upward.