GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (61 page)

‘Ah,
s
i,
there it is again!
Si,
a definite shift in form
...
the
shape
,
it’s changing
—
my
G
od
,
it’s moving up!’
T
he top of the sack
-
like object protruded a little and formed the shape of a pointed hood
.

Her eyes bulged in true horror
as she
recognis
ed
th
e
head
-
like movement and
,
as it turned, the thing looked up
...
at her!

Projecting pure hatred from its obscene
,
saucer
-
like
,
orbital eyes
,
the creature
began instantly pulling into her mind!
Its face was hidden in
the
darkness of the hood
—
only its wide eyes could be seen.
Francesca’s
psyche was being attacked!
The white blind saucers transmitted abhorrent thoughts of evil into her mind
...
it wanted her to fall.

Francesca felt like screaming
.
Have I gone off my rocker
?
I’m not going to fly! I’m not going to fly!
She fought for control,
grateful that
whatever it was had not fully paralysed her wit, not yet.

The thing
could not see her standing above
, but
rather it could taste her presence with its sensitive antennae
, which
waft
ed
around in the air, its wet tongue drooling like a dripping tap.
The antennae s
lither
ed
above and around in the air
and
then back on to the metal and back into the air again.
She was being tracked
.

The artificial electric light did not help with its short
-
si
gh
ted vision
, apparently
.
The creature
stopped its a
sc
ent momentarily
,
looking at her or staring blindly in her general
direction,
almost appearing to be listening carefully for the slightest sound.
Her increased breathing rate might be giving her
away
...
the thing
seemed
frustrated with the surrounding overall noise inside the building
and it paused significantly
before moving slowly upwards.

Can it hear my racing heart
?
Can it hear me think?
Get out of my mind!
Then
the thing
stopped
,
as if
making a decision
and
,
reading her thoughts again
,
star
ed
up and open
ed
its mouth
as
wide as possible.
The maw
was huge and wide and at first no sound came out
.
Almost like
it had
travell
ed to
some great distance from beyond, like someone transmitting sounds from an older transmitter from the other side of the world,
the creature’s sound
prove
d
to take a few seconds more
than its physical being.

Then it came
—
it came
,
al
l
right
,
and with an all-powerful hideous evil laugh, full of hatred and intense wickedness!

The eyeless and macabre white holes stared relentlessly upwards
,
capturing her attention.
The
e
y
es
never slept.
Its tongue seemed to become more excited in anticipation of
a coming
feast!
Inside its foul orifice
,
it displayed a nasty set of red
-
stained and unevenly pointed teeth.
“Destruction awaits your soul
.
C
ome to me
...
I am death
,
”
it said coldly,
and then a blood curdling scream followed
.
...

It took great will power
for Francesca
to break th
e
nefarious bond apart
,
and yet she managed to tear her gaze from that depraved and hypnotic stare.
Completely horrified
,
the girl wasted no more time ta
l
king and took a running jump, leaping high at the wide gap!

The echo of the heinous scream died behind her, she knew that something much worse was now hunting her.
The girl
did fly; she flew well over the sheer drop, landing with a spring and with considerable room to spare onto the other side of the platform!

She ran blindly along the precarious metal platform to the end
of the walk and then
catapult
ed
bodily up onto the sixth wrung of the ladder, horror in her mind
as she
scrambl
ed
madly up another ladder!

How long will this go on?
How much further can I go!
Her legs ached and
a
feeling
of
heav
iness overcame her
; abruptly
,
she lost her
footing and
s
lid perilously
down the ladder
.
Panic might kill her
,
and
it
gripp
ed her
more tightly
this time
than ever before
.
Eventually
,
the girl reached the fifth level
,
and not
a moment
too soon!

Francesca quickly located the wall switch and noticed straight away that the walkway was different
from the rest
and
,
surprisingly
,
made of wood
.
The sound of her feet pattering fast along its light surface follow
ed
parallel to the floors beneath her
....
Francesca tried to stop her rising panic and trepidation
from overwhelming her senses
.

Oh, down there, that awful thing! What is it? I have lost my mind completely this time!
It’s a devil or a phantom, a demon inside my mind.
Certainly not of this world!

Oh my
G
od, it was inside my mind
,
talking to me
...
.
W
hat is happening
?
It’s coming, coming, coming for me!

The girl was right about that
...
.

             
The diffuse lights created uncanny shadows all around.
Some of the air ducts were old and open
ed
so wide that they
could easily
be used as a
chute, snaking downwards to lower levels
—
a quick ride to hell!
Th
is
was n
ot the way
Francesca
wanted to go
.
A fearful thought came into her head
just then.

What if there are more of those things and they are already here, climbing up this hollow pipe? I’m trapped, oh fuck no! I’m trapped!
She kept
on anyway. When she
came to the end of the platform
, she
frantically look
ed
around for another ladder to climb
,
j
ust to keep going!

Where is the ladder?
she wondered, q
uickly despairing ‘Ah
,
there it is!’
she sighed with
relief
as she found it.
S
he began climbing like a mad woman
,
determined not to let th
e
thing
below her
catch up.
‘What’s that?’
she wondered suddenly,
looking underneath her and towards the facing wall.