LUCID

LUCID Part 10

BANG! BANG! BANG...

I continued to fire round after round into the advancing, nightmarish horde. "More ammo!" I screamed above the noise of my firing. "Get me more ammo!"

"More bullets and a bigger gun!" Kenzie cried out.

Instantly, a nylon vest covered in long, loaded magazines appeared on my torso. In the same moment, the pistol I held magically vanished from my hands, replaced by a short-barreled, two-handed rifle I immediately recognized as a "Tommy Gun".

Good girl. I thought.

BANG! BANG! BANG...

Firing dozens of rounds and reloading, then firing dozens of more rounds and reloading, I quickly categorize the monsters running at us from every direction, and jumping on top of the nearby bookcases, into two types in my mind, the "bugs" and the "bat things".

The "bugs" were the creatures I currently found myself firing round after round into. Luckily, my bullets tore through the monsters easily, spraying their bug guts everywhere and killing them almost instantly.

Unfortunately, there seemed no end to the damn things.

The "bugs" appeared as hideous, five-foot-high, pinkish, winged creatures with several arms and legs ending in large claws and with almost pyramid-shaped heads covered in antennae. Even though each monster sported membranous wings, none of them even attempted to fly at us. Overall, the bugs gave me the impression of giant crustaceans, but I continued to think of them as "bugs" in my mind.

I also couldn't help but notice several of the bugs ran towards Kenzie and me on all four of their legs, while others only on their hindmost pair.

Although my bullets effectively ripped their disgusting bug-like bodies apart, I noticed their soft bodies reflected the library's light strangely, although I never had the chance to ponder why as I fought off the ever-closing circle of monsters.

As soon as I would use a magazine to blow apart the "bugs" jumping and running towards us, a new magazine would appear in my vest. Vaguely, I heard Kenzie shouting words behind me and undoubtedly, this accounted for my never-ending supply of ammunition.

BANG! BANG! BANG...

The other type of creatures in the room, also vaguely human-sized, I dubbed "bat things" in my mind.

The "bat things," while hidden in the dark shadows of the library, appeared as shockingly evil, black beings with smooth, oily skin. They all sprouted unpleasant horns on their heads which curved inward toward each other. Behind their slick bodies, their leathery bat-wings beat, but as far as I could tell over the intense noise my weapon generated, created no sound. Each of these disquieting demons also had barbed tails which lashed needlessly back and forth.

The worst thing about the "bat things" were none of them had any faces, only blankness where their face ought to be.

Although none of the "bat things" left the darkness to advance on us, I could vaguely see them leap up and down on their long, hind legs like kangaroos.

Curiously, these "bat things" monsters didn't attack Kenzie and me like the "bugs", but instead, waited silently in the dark corners of the library. While in the midst of fighting off the "bugs", I didn't give much thought as to why the "bat things" didn't advance on us. Perhaps they simply waited for their chance to attack? Either way, first things first, and the first things I had to deal with were the "bug" things.

BANG! BANG! BANG...

As several more "bugs" ran at Kenzie and me, over the bodies of their dead brethren, I noticed fewer and fewer of their numbers. As I fired over and over, Kenzie and I, after she began following my lead, began backing away slowly, toward the library's door.

We're winning! I involuntarily thought as I killed the last of the bug creatures I could see.

With one threat gone, but with the other horrors still waiting and jumping up and down in the shadowy corners of the library, I turned towards Kenzie. "Get us the hell out of here!"

"Home." She stated.

Nothing happened.

This isn't good. I thought.

"Hurry." I added.

"Home." She repeated ineffectually.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Without warning, the overheated weapon in my hand and my tactical vest vanished from existence.

This really isn't good. I thought.

"Please! No!" Kenzie screamed an instant before a gag appeared and covered her mouth.

Contracting and extending its giant body to move, an enormous gray worm, with a man's face of course, emerged from around the corner. I could taste the bile in my throat as the hideous thing spoke. "Sorry I'm late, I see you already started without me."

Thinking fast, I called out to the Great, currently in giant worm form, inching towards Kenzie, avoiding the dead bodies of the bug things I'd recently shot. "Actually, I'm glad you could join us, Randolph."

"Really?" The human face turned and answered me. "Nice try. Did you think calling out my name would cause me to yank my head in surprise or something? I'm not that stupid."

"So that is your name." I stated. "Thought so."

The Great remained silent for several moments before answering. "Bravo or whatever. It doesn't matter now. I have you both, and trust me, this is going to end badly for the both of you two."

In an instant, the worm creature transformed into the human appearing Randolph Carter, dressed in an elegant tuxedo complete with a pistol in his hand.

"Let us go!" I shouted, preparing to lunge forward at the Great to disarm and hopefully kill him.

"If you attack me, I'll shoot you." The Great warned. "You'll wake up, but she'll be here with me, forever. And trust me, you'll want to see this."

Before I could answer or launch my attack, Randy raised his pistol at the ceiling and began firing.

BANG! BANG! BANG...

One by one, Randy shot out the lights in the library, plunging us into darkness. With only the moonlight shining in through the library's windows, the faceless "bat things", apparently previously unable to advance because of the illumination from the overhead lights, jumped obscenely towards Kenzie and me in the near dark.

Randy began laughing as the swarm of creatures passed him on both sides and attacked us.

I ineffectually attempted to defend myself, but the incredibly strong, and surprisingly heavy, creatures tore at my clothing and quickly brought me to the ground, pinning me down.

"I'm going to kill you!" I shouted.

"No, you're not." Randy replied, still laughing. Next to me, I horrifyingly observed Kenzie, her mouth still gagged so she couldn't speak, also pinned by the monstrosities on the ground. Turning her head towards mine, Kenzie's eyes pleaded for me to help.

"You might be surprised to hear these aren't imaginary monsters at all, but actually real beings who live here in the Dreamlands. The creatures you just murdered are actually incredibly intelligent, if you must know. These things holding you down though, well, not so much. Either way, they both do my bidding when asked. Can you believe it? They're totally real things, not figments of my dreams I made up. How scary!"

"What do you want?" I screamed as I attempted to free myself from the iron grip of the black, faceless monsters holding me down.

"What do I want? I want you to witness something truly evil." Randy explained as he stepped back into the darkness. "And when you do, remember this's all your fault."