Join My Cult - Original Falcon Press

passed the break in the pipe, she was almost sure of it. There was a dim
light source, perhaps a hundred feet down the hallway, where it opened
into a room. By now, the water was up to her knees and leaking into her
boots. Slime was starting to cake up on the front of her jeans. In the room
ahead, something gently splashed to the surface.
“Hello?” she whispered.
Jesus was surprised how loud her whisper seemed down here. It came
back to her in reverberations from all directions, and she felt the unmistakable
tickle on the back of her neck that came with being watched.
A breath of warm, moist air from behind startled her and she spun
around, changing her grip on the flashlight. Holding it like a nightstick,
she swung blindly though the air. Nothing. Adrenaline began its ancient
task and her heart began to hammer. Ripples grew in the water in front of
her. Something was swimming back towards the rat-room. Jesus spun
again and ran towards the lighted room, where she had first sighted
movement. Heedless of the splashing muck, she sprinted through the
slime. Sounds began to come from everywhere. Breathing. Splashing.
Unpleasant squishing and crunching. Something hit the water behind her,
and as she turned to look, pain exploded in her shin. Her feet slipped out
from underneath her and Jesus fell headlong into the muck, dropping the
flashlight as she tripped.
Water slopped in waves against its tentacles, and the Leviathan now
knew it prey was in trouble. Her pheromones tasted panicked, and even
at this range it reveled in her terrified thoughts. It wriggled a couple of
pseudopods behind Jesus, thrashing the water. The prey will run from the
commotion, it thought, like they always do. Enzymes flooded its branching
body, and it readied itself. The wait would not be so long, now.
Sputtering, Jesus rose to the surface. Eyes, eyes, come on now. She
struggled to regain her bearings. Moss and ooze covered her completely
now, and burned her slightly where it touched bare skin. Her eyes
watered, and a corrupt smell hung in her nostrils. Terrified, she immediately
began to run, losing her footing again when something disturbed
the water behind her. She rose to her feet again, and more carefully
began to flee. The breathing sounds were now clearly in front of her, but
that was of secondary concern to her as the splashing and slithering
behind grew closer. She could see the outline of the room now. Machinery
poked out of the slime, and stairs rose along the far wall to a not
quite closed door. Beyond the door was light, and it was to the light that
Jesus ran. Before she took two steps, a great fleshy bag dropped from the
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