BOOM: A Lovecraftian Urban Fantasy Thriller by Ben Farthing

Author:Ben Farthing [Farthing, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: superhero, adventure fantasy, Lovecraftian, weird fiction, urban fantasy
Publisher: Ben Farthing
Published: 2020-05-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Every step jolted Everard's already sore body. The invading presence was gone, but it had left nauseatingly vivid memories.

"What were you thinking?" spat Loretta. She led the way, leaping over a gap in the stairs. Sunlight poured in through a crack in the wall.

"That they had it coming," heaved Everard. He scrambled over the break in the stairs, not looking down at the expanse below.

"Wasps have it coming," said Loretta, "but I don't go around kicking every nest I can find."

The staircase evened out as they descended below the destruction of the Mariner's Box. Everard couldn't shake the feeling that the thing outside the elevator was now outside the stairwell. "I saw something in there."

Loretta stopped. "The Bloat?"

"The what?"

"It's hard to describe-"

"Yeah. That thing. What is it?"

Footsteps pounded up from below. Everard peered over the railing to see suits sprinting up the stairs.

"I'll explain once we get out of here. And you can explain how you're not dead."

"You killed their guy this morning," said Everard. "Can't you deal with these guys?"

Loretta looked up and down the stairwell, sizing up something. "He threatened my family, so I removed the threat. The CEO knows that's not an act of aggression." She climbed up onto the railing. "But if I attack his men in their own office building, that's starting a war."

Everard nodded. He wouldn't want to go to war against the thing outside the elevator, either. The Bloat.

"Climb onto my back."

A little emasculating, but he wasn't in a mood to argue.

"Wait." Loretta put a hand on his chest. She grabbed a fistful of Everard's shirt, rubbed it between two fingers. "Were you wearing this when you got here?"

"It's not from them, if that's what you're asking. I got away before they could put one of their suits on me. Barely."

She held his gaze. After a moment she must have seen what she wanted, because she let go.

The first suit came into view, lighter in hand.

Loretta stepped over the railing, still hanging on. "Okay, arms around my shoulder, ankles around my calves."

"Really?" She hadn't exactly been cuddly before.

The newcomer flicked his lighter to life.

"Nevermind, coming," said Everard. He wrapped himself around her like a kid riding piggyback. "Now what?"

Loretta pushed off into the empty space in the middle of the landing. Everard's stomach went to his throat. If he had anything left to vomit, he would have.

They fell faster, faster, and then their acceleration steadied. Each floor blurred by at a constant speed, quick, but slower than felt natural.

"Think you could slow us down before the bottom?" said Loretta.

Everard squeezed his eyes shut. He focused on them falling, on their speed. No. His will pushed against the mist. Their descent hiccuped, then continued on.

Loretta reached out to the railings, catching each with an open palm. It rang out as they descended the last few floors, and slowed them, minutely.

Right before hitting the bottom, Loretta pushed Everard off and said, "roll."

She hit the ground and rolled over her shoulder.

Everard attempted it but smashed into the tile floor with his upper arm.

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