The man was either incredibly foolish or impossibly brave – or both. He landed with a practiced roll, as if he’d been trained as an Olympic-level gymnast. Springing up to his feet, the man stared at Ronnie with an expression of disdain.

  The man stood tall and lean, with broad shoulders. He wore a holster across his chest, a pistol strapped in. His short-sleeved shirt strained in an attempt to contain his massive chest and brawny biceps. The tie he wore was being tossed about by the winds, which slowly died away as the helicopter lifted up and moved away.

  Ronnie wasn’t sure how old this man really was – his face was youthful but his hair contained more gray than brown, giving the impression that he was older than he probably was. The man’s eyes were mismatched – one of them being a dull earthen-brown while the other was a startling shade of green.

  This was Lazarus Gray, world famous leader of Assistance Unlimited. His name was enough to send most criminals into paroxysms of fear and Ronnie was no different. He opened and closed his mouth several times before he found the courage to actually speak. “It got loose,” he muttered. “It’s out there somewhere.”

  Lazarus snatched out a hand and grabbed hold of Ronnie’s hair. He pulled the bleeding man closer, throwing a snarl into his voice. “I’m going to hold you responsible for each and every death that may result from this. Do you understand me?”

  Ronnie groaned in fear and pain. “It’s just business, Gray! Just business!”

  Lazarus heard the snapping of a twig and he threw Ronnie to the ground. He spun about, drawing his pistol from its holster and holding it at the ready. He saw nothing at first but he could tell that it was out there, watching him. He could smell it….

  Assistance Unlimited had been hired by an aging Jewish scientist named Earnest Goldstein. According to the stooped scientist, he had managed to create an artificial life form that fed upon refuse. His hope was that it would prove a cure for an increasingly terrible problem in urban environments: the proliferation of garbage. These new creatures would feast upon the trash left behind by man, growing ever larger as a result. Their life spans were supposed to be short, ensuring that they would never become a threat.

  Unfortunately, Goldstein’s lips were a bit loose when he talked about his creation and its potential dangers – if left unchecked, the creatures would continue to voraciously feed on anything it came into contact with, growing stronger in the process. His dire prophecies attracted the attention of agents of the German government, who had stepped in to steal the scientist’s creation.

  Now fully weaponized, with no natural lifespan, the creatures were grown in a hidden lab in America and were to be tested in the remote jungles of Africa, where the Nazis felt the ‘subhuman’ populace could prove to be a good judge for the monsters’ effectiveness as weapons.

  Gray and his friends in Assistance Unlimited had trailed the Nazis all the way here, where they’d found Ronnie in their employ. The local scientific labs where the creatures had been housed were now in ruins but Ronnie had taken off with the last of the monsters in tow, hoping to eventually sell it to another bidder.

  “Don’t move,” Lazarus said through clenched teeth.

  Ronnie swallowed and gave a silent nod. He, too, could smell the overpowering stench of the monster. He’d seen what it could do to a human being and he had no desire to experience it firsthand.

  The bushes began to shudder and a thing emerged, looking like some sort of bloated, mammoth-sized worm. At the front, tapered end was a sucking maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. Its skin was doughy and mottled, with thick bristle-like hairs extending out along the sides. Tiny little arms ended up in claw-like hands, which snapped at the air in near-perfect unison with the gasping of its awful mouth.

  The monster’s undulating movements made Lazarus think of some of the larger pythons that he had seen. The odor was the worst, however. The creature’s scent was far beyond that of rotting vegetation or a decaying animal – it was like something from a terrible nightmare, the most revolting odor that could be imagined.

  Lazarus tensed as the great worm reared up, releasing a roar that shook the earth. He fired three bullets into its midsection but the bullets vanished in the corpse-like flesh. The only signs that they’d even hit their target was a thin trickle of greenish-yellow fluid that streamed down its belly.

  The worm lunged forward and Lazarus jumped out of the way. He landed in a rolling tumble, coming back up in a crouch. Ronnie wasn’t nearly so lucky – the greedy pilot screamed in horror as the worm’s mouth struck at him. Its teeth tore at his flesh and a tremendous suction yanked him deeper into the maw.

  It was already too late for Lazarus to do anything to save the man. The forces surrounding the criminal were shattering Ronnie’s bones and his skin was sizzling as the worm’s stomach acids covered him. Within seconds, the man’s screaming ceased – the amazing power of the worm was to decompose and absorb trash in rapid amounts, skills that were now put to the human garbage that had been named Ronnie Tollin.

  Lazarus holstered his gun, having recognized its uselessness. The creature was growing larger before his very eyes – with the safety mechanisms limiting its lifespan removed, it would continue to feed and grow larger until it threatened all life on the continent and possibly beyond. There were two good things, however, and they gave Lazarus tremendous hope: for one thing, it was sterile and incapable of reproducing. For another, the creatures all suffered from one major weakness: they grew weaker in the presence of extreme heat and could be killed by fire.

  “Ugly! Over here!” he yelled, showing the bravado he was famous for. As Richard Winthrop, he’d traveled the globe with The Illuminati, a group obsessed with using the occult to control the lives of innocent men and women. His decision to turn against them had nearly cost him his life, ending with his “death” as Winthrop on the shores of Sovereign City. He’d been “reborn” as Lazarus Gray… a man who neither feared death nor ran away from it.

  The monstrous worm turned its bulk toward the shouting man, blood dripping from its maw. Lazarus wasn’t sure if the creature was blind or not – there were no visible eyes, which led him to believe that it tracked through sound or smell, or some combination of the two.

  Regardless, it obviously sensed where more potential food might lie and it was at this moment that Lazarus realized that the monster had developed a preference for animal flesh. How else to explain why it didn’t just lumber about, eating at random? Virtually anything should be a food source so why be choosy?

  Lazarus pushed such concerns out of his mind. He had a job to do and in the end, it didn’t matter why or how the monster did things. It only had to be destroyed.

  To that end, Lazarus reached into a small pouch on his belt and pulled out a grenade. He yanked out the pin and waited until the worm was within reach – then he ran forward, leaping into the air. His right foot made contact with the worm’s body and he used this to push himself up, propelling himself right up in front of the monster’s maw. He then drew back his arm and made like Dizzy Dean – he threw a fastball right into the worm’s gullet.

  The creature snapped at him, narrowly missing him as he twisted his body in midair. He tumbled back down, landing hard on his feet and hands.

  Lazarus braced himself for another attack, as the great worm raised itself to its full height and emitted another terrifying roar. Before the beast could throw its weight at Lazarus, however, the grenade that was within its belly suddenly exploded. Guts, blood and the half-digested remains of Ronnie Tollin were expelled with tremendous force. Lazarus threw his hands over his head in an attempt to protect himself but he was drenched in the awful stuff, which dripped off his body in sticky clumps.

  Standing up, Lazarus shook off his arms but the stench that now clung to him was nauseating. He tossed up the remains of his lunch and then spat several times in a fruitless attempt to regain control of his fortitude.

  “I’m not sure we’re going to let you ride in the copter,” a male voice said. “I’m thinking we might have to strap you to the exterior.”

  Lazarus glanced over to see his friends approaching through the low-hanging branches and fronds. They were three of the very best. They were capable, brave and loyal – all prime requirements for membership in Assistance Unlimited.

  The man who had spoken was Morgan Watts. The elder statesman of the group, he was a former confidence man turned hero, having traded in a life of crime for one of perpetual danger. With his picture-perfect suit and tie, as well as his pencil-thin moustache, he retained the handsome appeal of a rogue. He was only in his forties but he had lived a hard life and after numerous injuries incurred over the past few years, he moved a bit slower than before.

  At his side was a pretty young thing named Samantha Grace. With platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, she came from a well-to-do family and was skilled in gymnastics and linguistics, as well as being a crack shot with a pistol. She tended to capture the heart of nearly any man who met her though she hadn’t found Mr. Right just yet. Dressed in khaki slacks and a safari-style shirt, she wore a rifle slung over one shoulder. Samantha had come to be at Lazarus’ side after he helped her family overcome the potential scandal resulting from a blackmail scheme.

  The final member of the group was a handsome Korean named Eun Jiwon. A master martial artist, Eun possessed a temper that was startling to behold. When criminals threatened the lives of his parents, Eun turned vigilante and ended up crossing paths with Lazarus Gray. Now he had finally found a place that accepted him fully, not caring that he was a foreigner or that he preferred the company of other men as lovers. In return for their trust and acceptance, Eun would gladly die for the other members of the team.

  Samantha jokingly held out a handkerchief to Lazarus. “You might want to clean up a bit, Chief.”

  Lazarus took the piece of garment and used it to wipe off his face, so that he was no longer blinking away pieces of gore. “That was disgusting.”

  Eun wrinkled his nose. “It’s still disgusting. I’m with Morgan. There’s no way you’re allowed in the helicopter.”

  With a grunt, Lazarus ignored the jests at his expense. In the early days of their partnership, the others would never have dared poke fun at him. They considered him their employer back then and his stoic exterior did nothing to dissuade them from that. But over time, they’d come to understand that he was truly one of them and a deeper bond had been formed. Now they were more like family.

  “Can’t believe anybody would actually want to grow these things,” Morgan said. He was standing next to a particularly large chunk of worm, prodding it gently with the toe of his shoe while hiding his nose beneath the crook of his arm.

  “Unfortunately, there will always be those whose desire for power exceeds the boundaries of good sense,” Lazarus said. “Now that this is dealt with, we can head back home.”

  Suddenly, every member of the team gave a simultaneous jump of surprise. Each of them carried a small wireless receiver that could receive long-range messages from other such devices. The reason that all of them seemed so confused was the fact that the devices were only passed out to members of Assistance Unlimited.

  Lazarus was the first to pick up his communicator, his eyes narrowing at what he saw displayed on the tiny screen. Each and every one of the devices was assigned an identification number. This number was represented whenever a call came in, allowing the receiver to immediately know who was attempting to contact them.

  In this case, the number displayed was 5… which was the identifier assigned to Abby Cross.

  “It’s her,” he said and everyone around him immediately tensed. All of them had waited with growing dread for some sign of her survival… or her demise. When she’d last been seen, she’d been vanishing into a vortex alongside The Darkling.

  “Oh my god,” Samantha whispered. She felt Morgan’s arm go around her shoulder and she allowed herself to be pulled against him. Though Morgan had carried a bright torch for her at one time, they had settled into a big brother-little sister relationship that suited them both. “She must be in trouble – that’s the only time that we’re supposed to send out an All-Call.”

  Lazarus said nothing, instead choosing to activate the communicator. He also thumbed up the volume setting so that everyone could hear. “Abby? Are you there?”

  The female voice on the other end was recognizably that of the team’s former member, though it was oddly emotionless. “Lazarus, it’s me. I’m in Sovereign.”

  “Go to headquarters. We’ll be there soon.”

  “Will my key still work?”

  “No – but you’ll be able to access one of the safe houses across the street.” Since Assistance Unlimited owned the entire block that contained 6196 Robeson Avenue, Lazarus had turned some of the empty storefronts and businesses into places where guests could be housed or where excess files or items could be stored.

  A small burst of static interrupted the transmission and when it faded, Abby was in midsentence. “—left me to die.”

  “Repeat that, please?”

  “I asked why all of you left me to die. None of you came after me.”

  “That’s not true. We looked for you. We’ve never stopped looking for you.”

  “The Darkling killed me, Lazarus. Only I didn’t stay dead. Just like you….”

  Lazarus felt the intense stares of his friends. He was certain that they were like him, with the tiny hairs on the nape of his neck beginning to rise. “If you’re dead, how can you be talking to me?”

  “I was revived. Not by my own magic… but by his.”

  “Whose magic? The Darkling’s?”

  “No. But I plan to pay him back for what he’s done eventually.” More static, covering part of her words. “—is here and he’s going to use me to destroy you. And, Goddess help me, I’m not even trying to resist. You sent me off to die, like another of your good little soldiers!”

  “That’s not true.”

  “You know it is, Lazarus. Just like you know what awaits all the others. They’re all going to die, alone and uncared for.”

  A sudden twist of emotion passed over the face of Lazarus Gray, so quick that only Samantha took notice of it.

  “Abby!” Lazarus demanded, his voice rising. “Who has done this to you?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” she said. There was a pause, with the only sound coming from the communicator being the soft hiss of the open line. And then Abby’s words came once more, this time carrying the soft trace of sadness. “I’m sorry, Lazarus.”

  The line went dead.

  “What the hell was all that?” Eun exclaimed, his natural tendency for anger coming to the fore. “Somebody’s brainwashed her! That’s the only reason she’d be talking that garbage.”

  Samantha, her voice much more subdued than Eun’s, pulled away from Morgan and moved closer to Lazarus. “Those things she said to you… That’s the same prophecy that Jakob repeated to Morgan, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Lazarus admitted. “Eidolon said that they were written on a stone tablet, in multiple languages, and that the tablet was thousands of years old.”

  “That still seems impossible!” Samantha blurted out.

  “Nothing’s impossible,” Eun said, looking with disgust at the dead worm. “Exhibit A,” he added, gesturing to the beast.

  “We should get back,” Lazarus said. He looked pensive, prompting Samantha to take his hand as they walked back to the helicopter. “Remember what we told you when we first learned about this… prophecy? We love you, Lazarus. We’re with you til the end, no matter what any stone tablet has to say about it. Understand?”

  “Thank you, Samantha.”

  With a shy smile, Samantha lowered her voice and added, “You really do stink terribly.”

  ***

  “You did well.” Doctor Satan took the communications device from Abby’s hand and slipped it into the folds of his crimson cloak. He and Abby were standing in an alleyway across the street from 6196 Robeson Avenue, the famous home of Assistance Unlimited. The building to his right was the one that Lazarus has referenced as being a ‘safe house’.

  Abby looked very pale, her long dark hair hanging loosely over one shoulder. In life, she’d been buxom and sensual, with the kind of figure that captivated every man she met. Raised as a witch, she possessed magic of a particularly dangerous kind and she’d quickly found her place amongst Assistance Unlimited.

  Since her resurrection, the fire of passion that had burned so brightly in her eyes had been snuffed out.

  “I don’t understand why we’re doing this,” she said. “The Darkling’s on his way… and now Lazarus will have his defenses raised. If you really wanted them dead, we should have struck without warning.”

  “It’s not enough to simply snuff out your enemies,” he countered. “One must see the fear in their eyes as they realize they are beaten. A flair for the dramatic is never a bad thing, my dear.”” He reached out and caressed her face, which brought a soft shudder to her frame. Even in her dampened-emotional state, she was still repulsed by this man. “Take one last look at your former home, Abby. The next time you see it, it’s going to be in flames.”

  Doctor Satan turned away, not seeing the solitary tear that escaped from Abby’s left eye, forming a glistening trail down her cheek.

  Chapter III

  The Feathered Serpent

  One Week Later

  “The feathered serpent is lurching to the left, it is injured and dying.” The high-pitched voice sounded quite strange coming from the throat of a bloated man with a comb-over but no one at the séance table seemed the least bit put out. In fact, all save one of those in attendance were staring with rapt attention. “You must divest yourself of any dealings with the feathered serpent,” the medium continued, his body beginning to shake with the exertions of communing with the dead.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91