Operation Orkney by William Meikle

Author:William Meikle [Meikle, William]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Severed Press
Published: 2022-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

- 11 -

He remembered from their last visit that there were eight steps down into the cellar and that there was a cord to switch on the cellar light at the foot of them. But he'd only gone four steps down when he heard a soft rustling from below, like cloth rubbing against cloth.

He switched on his rifle light and washed it ahead of him. He didn't call out; he'd seen how that turned out in the movies and he wasn't that stupid. The sound came again and this time he pinpointed it. It came from the far corner, where they'd left the big barman.

He took the last steps down onto the cellar floor and panned his light around. The first thing he saw was the most recently shot one lying just ahead of him, still leaking brains and blood from the ruin of its skull. He stepped over it, gingerly, not taking any risks; he'd seen that film too. The other beasts from the original engagement were lying where they'd left them, sprawled amid empty beer barrels. The rustling sound came again and he knew now for sure that it came from where they'd left Jerry lying.

He saw with dismay that the barrel of the rifle quavered and his hands shook.

Get a grip, man.

Telling himself, and making himself listen were two different things. His legs went shaky under him and sent a dull ache of pain to his brain to remind him of what happened the last time. The rustling came again, as if daring him to step closer.

Fuck this for a game of soldiers.

He stepped forward and played his light over the far corner of the cellar. Jerry, or rather what he'd become, was still there, but his eyes were open, huge red-rimmed silvery saucers that blinked in the gun's light. The beast brought one hand up to its forehead to the livid red gunshot wound there and whimpered at the touch. It mewled, like a cat in pain, and turned its head away from the gun's light, covering its eyes with one huge hand. Wilkins remembered Wiggo's words.

If anything so much as twitches down there, treat it as hostile and blow it tae fuck.

He aimed at the beast's chest, seeing two more red holes where Wiggo's shots had hit, over where the heart should be if its anatomy was normal. There was little normal about this thing. He put a finger on the trigger, then took it away again. The thing that had been Jerry was twitching all right, but it didn't look capable of doing any damage; this was a thing to be pitied, not feared.

As Wilkins took another step forward his light picked out something glistening on the floor between the beast's outstretched legs; a heavy keyring, the keys to the aged Land Rover that was still sitting out on the quay. The captain would want these.

The beast was still pawing at the wound in its head and mewling. When it took its huge hand

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.