The Confluence

The Confluence Part XI

XI

Adrian had been wandering for what seemed like hours. The sewers seemed to stretch into an unknowable labyrinth of dark brick and cement walls, with miles of leaky pipes for a ceiling. Adrian had found an entrance to the sewers near one of the many train yards. It was a manhole, surrounded by a seven foot high fence. After climbing the fence and heaving open the manhole cover, Adrian had made his way down. He held the shotgun in his white knuckled hands, ready for anything. He had lost all sense of time and space as he walked carefully along a small catwalk next to about five feet of grey, dirty water that was being pushed in the opposite direction he was heading. His flashlight illuminated about twenty feet ahead of him, but even then, all it showed him was more sewer. He kept moving, going against the water, but it wasn't long before his first obstacle came before him. The sewer hall ended abruptly, with the water coming out from beneath the wall. There was maybe about a foot of space between the flowing water and the brick wall. There was also some chilling sounds emanating from somewhere deeper within the small tunnel. Only one way in... Adrian thought to himself. He crouched down, and stuck one leg into the disgusting water. It was cold, and had an ungodly stench; there was also a slight sense of texture to the water, as if still solid refuse was snaking its oily way past his legs. Luckily enough the water came up to his chest, but Adrian tried desperately to not breathe through his nose. He waded forward, grunting with effort, holding the flashlight and shotgun as high above his head as he could. He also was relieved he put the shotgun shells in his shirt pocket. The sound he had heard began to get louder, a stealthy sort of slurping, bubbling sound. Very faintly, there was a slight ripping sound, like someone tearing two strips of Velcro apart. The low brick ceiling kept pulling at strands of Adrian's hair, and every once in a while it would scrape against his scalp. His heart was thudding rapidly as he kept wading through the grimy darkness, and he could almost feel the walls shrink against him. He was breathing heavily, all through his dry mouth trying to avoid the awful stench.

As the walls began to get tighter, Adrian saw a faint green glow a few feet ahead, and he sloshed through the stinking water with a desperate haste, until all he could hear was the blood thrumming its way through his temples and the splashing water, and suddenly, the walls parted, and he was standing in a small rectangular room with two cat walks on the each side above the water. There were two dimly glowing lights on either side of the small canal under the water, giving the stone ceiling a rippling surreal look. The sewage smell had slightly diminished, or his nose was finally getting used to the smell. As Adrian breathed in, there was another smell, something sinister in the air. It smelled like a mix of ozone and salty ocean air, and there was another definite scent, and it smelled like pennies. And then, he heard the tearing sound again, followed by a hungry slurping sound. Adrian, blood still pounding, whirled to look up to his left, and up on the catwalk right above him; crouched there was something out of a nightmare.

It grasped the mangled, almost unrecognizable remains of a person, but all that was clasped in the awful, black three fingered claws of the thing were a pair of legs, and the upper waist with dripping guts still attached with strings of meat and white ropey tendons to the bloodied spine and shattered and dripping rib cage. The creature was pale and veiny, with its alien, hairless oval head. The head was buried in the mess of guts at the top of the waist, black liquid bubbling and dripping excitedly as it tore apart the shredded remains.

Adrian couldn't scream. His mouth gaped as his legs began to buckle, and he leaned against the wall of the canal, shotgun gripped in white knuckled hands, slowly shaking. Adrian couldn't breathe, couldn't hear anything but the wet, sloppy sounds coming out of the hunched monster. Adrian tried to take another step, but the floor was slimy, and he felt himself lose his footing, almost in slow motion. He saw the water rising, and the hard brick that was beneath it. He thrust out his hand to try to catch his fall, while also trying to keep the shotgun out of the water. He caught himself, splashing around the water, suddenly neck deep. He steadied himself, and turned back towards the awful thing.