Fossil Lake: An Anthology of the Aberrant by Ramsey Campbell, Peter Rawlik, Mary Pletsch, Jerrod Balzer, John Goodrich, Scott Colbert, John Claude Smith, Ken Goldman, Doug Blakeslee Page A
Authors: Ramsey Campbell, Peter Rawlik, Mary Pletsch, Jerrod Balzer, John Goodrich, Scott Colbert, John Claude Smith, Ken Goldman, Doug Blakeslee
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Salt?
Before I could pull back, a gush of water filled my mouth. Like her skin, it was salty and cold. It flooded in, choking and gagging me. I pushed away, falling backwards in the sand, vomiting up silty greenish water in heaving gasps.
She gave me a scolding, disappointed look. “You resisted my affection. That makes me unhappy, Theo. That makes Mother very unhappy. My children need another brother, a strong and handsome brother like you.”
“Children?” I coughed out another lungful, my eyes watering and nose burning from the acidic fluid.
“All who come here are my children,” she said, gesturing around. “So many children in the past, each a treasure upon which I showered my love. But then they’d grow up and turn from me, from their own dear Mother. They’d want to go away forever.”
I glanced again at the bones embedded in the cave walls. Gnawed and scattered, she’d said.
“So you ate them, to keep them with you?”
“Consumed them with the sorrow of a mother’s sacrifice.” She heaved a watery, mournful breath. “Now Mother has only two … a useless worm and a wicked girl. Not a fine, strong, handsome son like you.”
“I’m not your son.” The long knife appeared in my hand and was slapped away almost as fast, a stinging blow as something hard and scaly smacked it from my grasp.
“Tut. Tut. No weapons, young man!”
But the touch of the blade had shattered her illusion. I saw her as she truly was. A long serpentine body stretched back to the lake, following the groove in the sand. Thick scales covered her torso. Dozens of tentacles sprouted from her shoulders, ending in sharp claws.
Bernie, what the fuck were you thinking? No violence, my ass!
“Mother will have to punish you for this impertinence,” she gurgled, through a mouth now more suited to a large eel.
“Good luck with that,” I said, still backpedaling, groping for anything I could use to defend myself while scanning frantically for the knife.
“Join my family,” she said, undulating closer. “In time, others will come along. Perhaps a bride for you. Mother would love grandchildren. Strong and healthy and loving.”
“That’s not happening.”
“Disobedient boy!” More of the massive, tentacled body flowed out of the water, growing thicker and thicker with each revealed foot. A phosphorescent glow throbbed from some large mass submerged in the lake.
What the fuck is beneath the water? Sand slipped under my heels as I scrambled backwards. A dizzying nausea threatened to spill more of my stomach onto the floor.
My hand fell on the kit, almost empty now except for the leather pouch.
Restorative juju, Bernie said. For her, I’m betting. I thrust my hand in, wrapping my fingers around the leather bag just as her cold, fishy tendrils wrapped around me.
“Come to Mother!”
She lifted me into the air.
“Go to hell!” I tossed the pouch past her. The tie unraveled, spilling out tiny metallic shavings that scattered across the surface like rain drops. Please let this work.
Smoke billowed up from the lake, a swirling cloud that hung on the surface. Her shriek echoed off the walls as she convulsed, squeezing me with a sudden force, expelling the last of my breath and the choking water. Then I went tumbling end over end, hitting the beach, skidding into the rock-and-bone wall, shattering the miner’s lamp.
In the darkness, I heard her wail and splash, spitting out words in an unknown, guttural language. Then the noise faded away, leaving only the soft sounds of diminishing ripples lapping on the lake shore.
Well, that job’s done, I thought, letting my aching head sink onto my crossed arms. Guess they’ll find my bones some day.
* * *
“Get your ass up, boy,” said a familiar, gruff voice.
Bernie?
I squinted at sunlight streaming through blinds, blinking rapidly at the sudden intrusion. Sunlight … blinds … a window … a motel room … and a wizened gnome at the bedside,
Before I could pull back, a gush of water filled my mouth. Like her skin, it was salty and cold. It flooded in, choking and gagging me. I pushed away, falling backwards in the sand, vomiting up silty greenish water in heaving gasps.
She gave me a scolding, disappointed look. “You resisted my affection. That makes me unhappy, Theo. That makes Mother very unhappy. My children need another brother, a strong and handsome brother like you.”
“Children?” I coughed out another lungful, my eyes watering and nose burning from the acidic fluid.
“All who come here are my children,” she said, gesturing around. “So many children in the past, each a treasure upon which I showered my love. But then they’d grow up and turn from me, from their own dear Mother. They’d want to go away forever.”
I glanced again at the bones embedded in the cave walls. Gnawed and scattered, she’d said.
“So you ate them, to keep them with you?”
“Consumed them with the sorrow of a mother’s sacrifice.” She heaved a watery, mournful breath. “Now Mother has only two … a useless worm and a wicked girl. Not a fine, strong, handsome son like you.”
“I’m not your son.” The long knife appeared in my hand and was slapped away almost as fast, a stinging blow as something hard and scaly smacked it from my grasp.
“Tut. Tut. No weapons, young man!”
But the touch of the blade had shattered her illusion. I saw her as she truly was. A long serpentine body stretched back to the lake, following the groove in the sand. Thick scales covered her torso. Dozens of tentacles sprouted from her shoulders, ending in sharp claws.
Bernie, what the fuck were you thinking? No violence, my ass!
“Mother will have to punish you for this impertinence,” she gurgled, through a mouth now more suited to a large eel.
“Good luck with that,” I said, still backpedaling, groping for anything I could use to defend myself while scanning frantically for the knife.
“Join my family,” she said, undulating closer. “In time, others will come along. Perhaps a bride for you. Mother would love grandchildren. Strong and healthy and loving.”
“That’s not happening.”
“Disobedient boy!” More of the massive, tentacled body flowed out of the water, growing thicker and thicker with each revealed foot. A phosphorescent glow throbbed from some large mass submerged in the lake.
What the fuck is beneath the water? Sand slipped under my heels as I scrambled backwards. A dizzying nausea threatened to spill more of my stomach onto the floor.
My hand fell on the kit, almost empty now except for the leather pouch.
Restorative juju, Bernie said. For her, I’m betting. I thrust my hand in, wrapping my fingers around the leather bag just as her cold, fishy tendrils wrapped around me.
“Come to Mother!”
She lifted me into the air.
“Go to hell!” I tossed the pouch past her. The tie unraveled, spilling out tiny metallic shavings that scattered across the surface like rain drops. Please let this work.
Smoke billowed up from the lake, a swirling cloud that hung on the surface. Her shriek echoed off the walls as she convulsed, squeezing me with a sudden force, expelling the last of my breath and the choking water. Then I went tumbling end over end, hitting the beach, skidding into the rock-and-bone wall, shattering the miner’s lamp.
In the darkness, I heard her wail and splash, spitting out words in an unknown, guttural language. Then the noise faded away, leaving only the soft sounds of diminishing ripples lapping on the lake shore.
Well, that job’s done, I thought, letting my aching head sink onto my crossed arms. Guess they’ll find my bones some day.
* * *
“Get your ass up, boy,” said a familiar, gruff voice.
Bernie?
I squinted at sunlight streaming through blinds, blinking rapidly at the sudden intrusion. Sunlight … blinds … a window … a motel room … and a wizened gnome at the bedside,
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