5. A cry of desperation
The drains were screaming. The screams were coming from Mike Hanlon. It, had taken him to a place deep inside the drainage system. Mike was now looking across a damp and dark cylinder. At one end was a ladder that went up three levels to the ground surface. Mike however, was at the other. This far down, the air was harder to breath. Mike's feet were not touching the ground. In fact none of his body was. A 'cross' was stuck into the concrete cylinder. The cross itself was of course made of wood and on it was Mike. His hands and feet had been nailed onto the cross. Mike had been crucified. A pool of dried blood, underneath Mike's feet, was now giving out a foul stench, a bit like olives, but that didn't bother Mike, for one thing his nose had been broken in two places. The second is the fact that the nails that were hammered into his hands, about 30 minutes ago, were now starting to pull some strain on his outstretched hands. The pain was unbearable. Mike began to scream again. The drains echoed with his pain but no one in Derry could hear him.
Henry, Jonsey and Bill stood next to a drain cover. The same drain cover where Ralph Roberts had had his arm ripped out of his sockets. They came to this particular drain cover for two reasons. One, it was near the barrens, and a lot of instances that involved It happened near the barrens. The second was that, while walking down this path, all three of them could have sworn they heard screams coming down from the drainpipes. Henry went down first. He volunteered himself as the guilt of not helping his new friend was still hanging over his head. He went down as far as the ladder would take him. Although he didn't know it, Henry had gone down three levels. A couple of turns through this maze of a tunnel and he would be face to face with Mike, and It.
Jonsey and Bill secretly decided who would go next. Without saying anything, Jonsey, got down on his knees and was about to climb down the ladder, when a voice called out to them. It was Jim Gardner. Un-shaved and red-eyed, it looked as though the poor man hadn't had a decent night sleep in weeks. On his left hand, he was missing his little and index finger. It had tried to kill Gardner but he escaped. Minus, two fingers.
"I didn't know who else to turn to. I heard that you, Bill, had had this same problem 28 years ago, so I've been looking for you ever since Pennywise appeared in my house and killed my dog, tore the poor things stomach right out. I got away, but the mother-fucker ate two of my fingers in the process." Gardner paused and a tear appeared in his eyes. He added, "Please, help me, I will destroy this creature. I will destroy him by doing the Ritual of Chud. I have nothing left loose. Now let's finish this" He started for the train but stopped in his tracks.
"What is it?" Bill asked, his eyes filled with terror.
"Where's the other one. I heard about Mike disappearing, but there were four of you." The answer came from an unexpected source, from the drains, a cry of fear, a cry of desperation.
"Jonsey, help me!" It was Henry, and the voice was from a man who had gone completely mad with terror.
The three wasted no more time and climbed down the ladder, but for Henry, it would be too late.
As Henry reached the end of the tunnel and turned to his left he found a dead end. Visibility was near zero but he could tell that he could go no further this way. He turned to his right and what he saw took his breathe away with real horror (but then again so would It in a minute).
With bloodshot eyes, one arm nailed to the cross, the other hand had already slid through the nail, and near death. Mike Hanlon got to watch Henry meet his own death. Mike tried to yell out to Henry but he had no strength left.
Henry saw Mike try to say something but he couldn't hear him. Henry was in shock. How could Mike have survived this long anyway? The answer to that was easy. It wanted Mike to suffer for as long as he could so It did everything in his power to keep Mike alive. Henry felt something brush by him. He looked back the way he came. Nothing. A hand fell on Henry's shoulder. He tried to scream but nothing came out. As he turned to face the way where Mike was hanging, he saw a figure seven feet tall staring down at him. Before Henry could run away, It crabbed his shoulders and raised him in the air. Henry weighed about 13 stone, but Pennywise lifted him up as if he was a feather. It brought Henry down onto his thigh and broke Henry's back. A horrible 'CRACK' sound went through the air. Henry spat out a mouth-full of blood. Henry couldn't move, he had been paralysed from the neck down. It lay him down on the ground and decided to feast. Pennywise smiled his trademark evil grin and ripped Henry's stomach open. Henry was alive when It starting eating him. By the time It had eaten his intestines and tore out his throat, Henry was dead.
The remains of Henry's body were left to rot, for now. Mike looked up after It had disappeared. His right hand was still nailed into the cross and his arm ached so badly. In fact, his whole body felt like he had just been run over by a train and left to feel the pain. Mike looked at Henry and vomited anything that was left in his stomach. Before death took him he had just enough time to see Bill, Jonsey and Gardner. He smiled. Mike died on a crucifix at the age of 62.
