The Bush Beast

The abandoned roller coaster track twisted through swirling mist. Below, a five person squad walked in loose line. Their feet edged cautiously through damp undergrowth, ferns brushed wet fronds across their thighs. As they came upon each supporting leg, they cautiously peered up it. When satisfied no threat was above, Michael attached a charge and detonator.

"Steff, sorry about last night," said Beth

"Denada, Beth. We're all struggling." Steff searched the mist. Beth swept her head side to side, attentive to danger.

"Still. I was --" A metallic scraping noise stopped her and they listened. "There, contact left!" Beth said. She pointed the tip of her dai-katana.

"Si, you're eyes behind. The rest of us, ready to fire?" Steff ordered. Simon turned to guard their rear. Chet fumbled his safety, but nodded. Michael and Beth were concentrated on the undulating mass ahead. Steff lifted her bow and peered through the reticle.

In the murk she could see the creature ooze down a stanchion. She took in the alien organism, yet another type she hadn't seen before. An eyeless host of tentacles around a gaping mass of teeth. A stench of rotting flesh reached out from it. She gave a final command before mayhem erupted, "The thickest part. Aim for the thickest part. On my mark. Now!"

Four crossbows fired, the rhythm sporadic as they loaded at different speeds. The mercury fulminate ignited gunpowder when the bolts collapsed into the body of the creature. Wreathed in small explosions and clouds of dirty smoke, the limbs waved frenetically and strained toward the attackers. Deep ululations emanated from its mouth, a sound felt more than heard.

They rushed forward, crossbows clipped onto webbing, hands free to wield spears, swords and axe. Muscular, fibrous tentacles flopped to the ground, purple ichor leaked from the severed ends. A long barbed pike was thrust hard, sliding deep into the creatures body. Its chthonic vibration set up a harmonic resonance in the steel tubing it clung to. The air thrummed with the pained call. The second pike struck. A splash of fluid sprayed out, thin and putrescent green in color, suggesting an internal organ had been ruptured.

Steff and Chet tugged hard on the long handles, dragging the creature from the roller coasters framework. Weakened by loss of limbs, and blood, it finally detached. Simon unleashed a barrage of blows with his lumberjack's axe, silencing, and then stilling the creature.

Even before Simon finished, Michael attached explosives where the unearthly animal had descended, wiping away sticky residue to ensure the charge was secure. While he tightened a final fastener, a long feathery tendril dropped near him. Beth swiped with her dai-katana, but the feeler snapped upwards.

"Leave it, run," urged Beth, grabbing Michael's arm. As they turned a host of long thin tentacles whipped down, gripping them, entwining them. Both started to scream. Steff, Chet and Simon rushed forward, but were driven back as serpentine arms continued to fall, questing for prey.

The tentacles contracted, drawing Michael and Beth into the air. Beth's face covered in a writhing mass of dark appendages. Michael's was clear and he shouted, "Detonate, Steff, deton..." An armlet slid straight into his open mouth, reaching down his throat, choking him. He disappeared into the fog. There was a muffled cry. A splatter of dark red, followed by a severed limb, its edge a ragged messy tear, the marrow in the snapped bone a deep maroon. Chet retched, splashing vomit.

"Run," screamed Steff, and they ran. She groped in her breast pocket for the detonator and jammed her thumb on the switch. It clicked and, a heartbeat later, the charges on the roller coaster detonated.

Another, deafening explosion, occurred high in the air. The live charge Michael carried, as an insurance policy, blew his already lifeless corpse apart. Right at the lip of the portal between dimensions. The oxygen rich air of the alien world ignited violently. A fiery column lanced down, and the three redoubled their efforts, running from its intensity. Behind them the steady roar of fire continued, like a jet engine preparing to take off.

Halfway across the weed strewn remains of the huge parking lot Steff raised her hand. "Stop, we should be ok here." She said, "We need to see what has been destroyed."

All three stood and looked back, hands resting on knees. Shock and adrenaline had drawn on their reserves more than the short sprint. The fog they started out in had dissipated rapidly from the heat of the flame. They could see the old roller coaster sign had fallen, leaning against the remains of the ride's starting gate. Its neon lighting tubes were cracked, but the name was still discernible.

"Y'know, I rode The Bush Beast when it opened, I can't --" Chet was cut off. A chitinous spike burst through his lower torso, blood and bowel contents smeared along the protrusion. A ribbon of intestine was hooked on the end, he looked down at it, eyes gaping. Arterial blood flooded into his oesophagus and he coughed for a final time. A spray of bright, oxygen rich, blood burst from his mouth. Simon and Steff whirled to face this new monster, Chet's bloody cough spattering them.

The beetle-like creature must have been resting, looking enough like one of the long abandoned cars for them to ignore it. Now it was inside the long reach of Steff's pike. As she tried to stab forward the shaft was swatted aside. A claw snapped out, clamped around her head, and crushed. Blood and brain spurted both above and below the crush point, and her body dropped, lifeless. Simon's axe smashed down on the monsters bony carapace. It cracked under his hammer blow and he raised to strike again. As the downstroke began, his left leg was severed by the talon that had eviscerated Chet.

Simon collapsed to the ground beside the pulpy mess of Steff's head, then his own skull was crushed by the monster collapsing onto him. The toothed maw preparing to feed, uncaring off the destruction occurring on its home world.

An original story and photograph by Stuart C Turnbull.