Deep, Deep Ocean by Carter Bowman

Author:Carter Bowman [Bowman, Carter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ghost Pepper Press LLC
Published: 2018-07-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The vein caught on the edges of tables and chairs as I followed it around the floor of the casino. Luffy rushed to keep up, hammering me with nervous questions. I was too absorbed to untangle his concerns though. The longer we walked, the more I understood that the casino was built as game itself, designed to take you around and around in a great circle with no natural ending point. The path of the circle was growing dimmer, the long hallways casting our shadows in darker and darker shades as the rooms became less exciting. Faces passing us looked more intently on their endeavors, each one less human somehow with their fixation on every turn in the cards or click of the wheel. The veins were becoming more distinctive as well, transitioning from faint blue to a deep, pulsing purple. There was no doubt they were alive, that what connected them was absorbing the light spiraling to the center of the circle.

Luffy and I crossed into the deepest, a different world from the whooping lights of the main room. Like a city’s skyscrapers at night, the machines loomed over the two of us on both sides. We were being funneled through the mostly empty rows, occasional sounds echoing in the emptiness.

Even though the machines were made of reflective metals and plastics, without anything but themselves to mirror back and forth, they appeared two-dimensional — sets on a stage without a narrative to put them to use.

A deep rumble vibrated the brittle plastic of the machines.

Luffy grabbed my arm, pulling me close in the wane light. “We went deeper than we should have.”

Another thud, followed by a groan, rumbled as something shifted out of sight. A machine rattled, change shaking in its tin body. Veins wrapped around the corner, knotting and twisting into a braided chord. The light was easier to see sliding through the tubes in the poor lighting, like tapioca balls sliding up thick straws from the bubble tea Maggie liked to drink.

Another groan. Something masked in shadows rolled over the hedge of slot machines. Clanking and squeezing, the shape hidden in the maze pushed its way towards us.

I was at first unsure if I was hearing properly, but through the groans and sighs, words were taking form across the rows.

“I smell you.” The voice was thick, full of excruciating effort.

Luffy’s grip around my arms tightened.

We reached the end of the row and came to a halt. Exposed without the plastic and metal between us, it was too late to escape.

A great shadow poured through the row to our right, propped beneath the weight of skin and fat slopping in the cramped space. Its skin was a mess of greens and blacks. No legs appeared to support its form, instead spilling like sludge in a loose balloon.

Two eyes, red and black orbs set into the mass, found us, turning one at a time to focus on our tiny bodies. Arms extended, too small in comparison to its

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