Complete Short Fiction by Sterling E. Lanier

Author:Sterling E. Lanier [Lanier, Sterling E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

We all sat silent, while Ffellowes took a long pull on his cigar. In passing, I noticed chat Williams had his mouth open and was just as enthralled as the rest of us.

“I froze, but only for a second,” resumed Ffellowes. ‘My first reaction was to try and get up, in other words a panicked one, simply to keep struggling out the same way I had been pulling. My waist was well up on the solid rock, and I dropped the gun and used both lands to try and haul myself forward on my stomach. But it vas no go. Whatever had me was at least as strong as I and from the feel probably stronger. I couldn’t move an inch, and the pressure to haul, that is to haul me back down, never slackened an inch. Then I got the use of my brain back, and tried to twist, so that I was now on my side. This got me a little ground, though not much, and I tried it again,’ gaining a few more inches. Now I could see the pool, or rather I could see my legs, sunk in something. The fog was so dense that the pool’s surface was invisible. I never thought of yelling, you know. Something told me it would be useless, and so the silent struggle continued.

“By now, I was almost sitting, and I shifted my right hand to get a better grip. It was only a few inches, but it was almost the death of me. Whatever had hold of my legs also pulled at just this point, and the yank almost took me the whole way back in!

“But it also saved me. I scrabbled wildly with my right hand seeking a stronger hold, and the hand came down on my pistol. As a wave of sand and water eddied up around my middle, spilled out of the sink by my struggle, I wrenched myself around further, thrust the barrel down as close to my leg as I could, while still keeping it clear of the water, mind you, and fired. I kept firing as fast as I could squeeze the trigger.

“The thing must have come up near the surface to get a better grip on me. There was a great final, heave and a flurry in the muck. I dimly could make out something brownish and rounded emerging briefly from the watery slime and ooze, but it was hard enough to see any detail. I could be sure of nothing except that I had seen something. Then, the stuff subsided, and I was left with a half empty gun, sprawled over the edge of the pool. The surface was calm again under the mist and vapor.

“I had pot forgot that scream. I staggered to my feet and got out my torch. With that in one hand and the gun in the other, I headed for the house as fast as I could. With the light of the torch, the path was easy enough to view, and I carefully avoided the other pools.

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