Chapter XVI: Back To The Wild
"So let me see if I have this straight. My family is part of an ancient bloodline that was started in the eighth century by some Arab wizard who worshipped primordial gods called the Ages Ones?" asks Marcos as he slightly leans back, but still restrained in his chair.
"The Old Ones." says Emmett with impatience.
"Right, The Old Ones. So anyway, one of these Old Ones, Pazuzu or whatever the fuck, ruled over a corpse city in the middle of the ocean hundreds of thousands of years ago but was engaged in a war with another alien species for control of the Earth. He lost that war and his city sank below the waves, but because my lineage has a direct connection with Goo Goo due to some special bacteria in our blood, the ancient city is now rising out of the sea and somehow all this has to do with my fiftieth birthday. Am I in the ballpark here?" asks Marcos, his voice exuding sarcastic and comical skepticism.
Emmett crouches down to look Marcos in the eyes "Of course I wouldn't expect someone like you to possibly comprehend the greater significance of the history, our faith or your place within the grand plan, and for the record, his name is Cthulhu."
Marcos smirks loudly "…and I'm supposed to be the psycho around here?"
"The presence within your blood, something we call the Hyksos Uranum, is a unique genetic marker that's only found in the lineage of Abdul Alhazred, your great ancestor who compiled and wrote the Necronomicon." says Lundy.
"Alhazred was specially chosen by Cthulhu as his psychic anchor to this realm and through his descendants, the Great Dreamer would rise again to bring the Earth beneath his sway." says Emmett.
"Say that for a single second, I believed any of this horse shit…why me? If this unique genetic marker was present in my family, why not snatch up my dad when he was alive, or hell even my two daughters? Why go to all the trouble of breaking me out of prison?"
"The Hyksos Uranum is only present in the male members of your bloodline." says Lundy.
"To your other question as to why specifically you, first you must answer me something Colonel. At what age did your father die?" asks Emmett.
"He was forty-nine, lung cancer."
Emmett nods "Yes and the other men in your family? As far back as you can recall, have any of them lived past the age fifty?"
Marcos narrows his eyes "I don't know."
"Than allow me to fill in the blanks Colonel. The Church of the Sinking City has done extensive research on your family tree and as unbelievable as it sounds, not a single man in your ancestry has ever lived up to fifty years. That is of course, for you." says Emmett.
"So what?" retorts Marcos.
"For reasons that we have to fathom, in order for Cthulhu and Ryleh to rise again, one of Alhazred's descendants must reach the age of fifty. Once they surpass this specific milestone, they than become The Eldritch Prophet as foretold in the Necronomicon and will usher in the way for great Cthulhu to awaken." Says Emmett.
Marcos than begins to whistle in a mocking tone "Well that's quite the fucking story Father."
"We understand that it's a lot to take in Colonel, but it's all true. You are The Eldritch Prophet, there's no denying it." says Lundy.
"So what now doctor? Do I go all Linda Blair with my head spinning around until I get a call from ole Cthulhu or whatever the hell his name is?" asks Marcos.
"Your true function will by fully explained in due time my dear Colonel. The most important thing now is that we have you in our custody. But if you'll excuse me, right now I have a Sunday night Mass to teach. We all have to keep appearances after all."
"So your just gonna leave me tied up down here, not even a cold beer for god's sake?" asks Marcos light heartedly.
"I'll be back before to long. In the meantime, young Brother Lawrence will guard you." says Emmett pointing to a young priest standing just outside the caged enclosure "He's a new recruit for The Church, very well versed on the faith and our revered Old Ones, isn't that right Brother Lawrence?"
"Yes Father." says Lawrence as he looks down menacingly at Marcos.
"Excellent, come Doctor. I'll have Father Davenport relieve you in about an hour." says Emmett as he and Lundy exit the underground catacombs.
The pair ascend a dark winding staircase that leads to a secret door in a back hallway of Saint Thomas' Cathedral.
"We'll transport him first thing in the morning. I've coordinated a rendezvous point with Admiral Walsh. We'll have a full naval escort out to the site of Ryleh." says Emmett.
Lundy nods "Ok, I'm going to head over back to the lab. Run some more check ups on the blood sample. I wanna be absolutely sure we didn't miss anything."
"We have the right one doctor. The Colonel is The Eldritch Prophet, there can be no doubt."
"I certainly hope so." says Lundy as her and Emmett part ways down the hall.
As Deidre Lundy briskly walks down the darkened halls of the expansive and large church, she suddenly stops dead in her tracks, overcome by the sense of a supernatural presence. From behind her, one of the many doors that line the hall slowly creaks open and out steps a shadowy figure of a very tall entity. The silhouette of the humanoid figure suggests that whatever it is, it's wearing an overcoat of some kind, a rain hat topping it's head with all other features obscured by darkness. Lundy, with her back still turned towards the entity, exhales deeply, her breath clearly visible as the temperature drops around her.
"Is that you my king?" she asks, slowly turning around.
The entity cannot be seen speaking, but Lundy simultaneously hears a disembodied voice echo in her head "Is Cthulhu's prophet secure?"
"Yes my king." says Lundy.
"Than I shall take it from here. You've done well my Feasting servant."
"Thank you my lord." says Lundy lowering her head and steepling her hands in reverence.
The entity doesn't say anything further and it's gigantic stature simply lumbers back into the room that it came out of, carefully closing the door behind it. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Lundy walks back towards the room and she sees the small name plate on the outside reads Father Fredrick Davenport. Reluctantly she opens the door only to be taken aback to find a lifeless body hanging from the ceiling over top a desk in the office. Father Davenport's body dangles by a belt loop attached to a ceiling fan. Lundy swallows hard as she immediately shuts the door, and quickly heads to the exit the church.
Marcos slowly rocks back and forth in his chair, his restraints jiggling against the arm supports "Hey kid, you mind if I get some breathing room? My ass is really starting to get numb."
"You'll be taken care of as soon as Father Emmett gets back. Now kindly shut up." says Lawrence continues reading the antique book in his hand.
Marcos just smiles as he looks around the dungeon like enclosure, gothic and grotesque drawings and sculptures depicting the octopus faced demon glaring at him from several points around the cell "You really believe all this bullshit? Ancient prophecies, primordial gods and sunken cities? All seems like the stuff of a bad acid trip at a drive-in movie."
"I said shut up." says Lawrence.
"You do know that Emmett and Lundy are a buncha fruit loops with delusions of grandeur."
"I said shut up!" shouts Lawrence as he forcefully stands up to face Marcos through the cell bars "Father Emmett is a great man! He personally communes with the Old Ones, I've seen it for myself! When Ryleh rises fully and we sacrifice your blood to great Cthulhu, we are promised to rule at his side. We'll become gods in our own right!"
"Oops, did someone just spill the beans? I don't think I was supposed to know about the whole sacrificial part, huh sonny?" says Marcos smugly.
A look of worry crosses Lawrence's face when the door to the catacombs opens and in steps Astur, the very large man encountered by Parkes and Aiden. He is dressed in the same get up as before…yellow rain coat, hat, boots and bandanna around his face.
Lawrence looks on perplexed "Who are you, you can't be down here."
"Relax, Father Davenport sent me to check on the prophet. He'll be down himself in a few." says Astur as he opens Marcos' cell door with a set of keys.
"Wait what are you gonna do?" asks Lawrence.
"Quick pat down, just makin sure he doesn't have any weapons. We can't afford and escape" says Astur as he enters the cell.
"But why did he send you, I could've checked him." asks Lawrence.
"This man is very dangerous; you might not know what to look for." Astur says looking down at Marcos "Aren't you friend?"
Marcos looks up at the imposing man "I'd call you the jolly green giant but you gotta little bit of a different color motif going on there."
Astur crouches down, his green eyes conveying that he's smiling behind his bandanna mask "A real honor to finally meet you. You're everything that I'd envisioned." he says as he begins to lightly rub his hands around Marcos' person.
"I hate to break it to you bubba, but I'm kinda fond of the female species if you know what I mean. But if you untie me, I might be up for letting you buy me dinner." says Marcos.
Astur quickly places his hands behind Marcos and silently snaps the ropes holding the prisoner's wrists while simultaneously placing something metallic into Marcos' palm "Careful what you wish for."
Marcos widens his eyes with a telling stare when he realizes what the other man has just done but is careful not to move a muscle in order not to alert Lawrence.
"He's clean." says Astur standing to his feet and walking by Lawrence.
"You barely touched him." exclaims Lawrence, quick to slam the cell door shut.
"Sometimes you can just tell. Father Davenport will be down soon. Praise be to the Old Ones." says Astur as he walks through the door and out of the catacombs.
"Praise be to the Old Ones." says Lawrence a little bewildered "That was certainly strange."
Meanwhile Marcos feels the object Astur had placed in his palm and a malevolent grin crosses his face. He than starts to hack and cough quite loudly. Lawrence comes back over to the cell and notices his captor's distress "What the matter with you?"
Marcos throws his head back and begins to gurgle up saliva, his breathing becoming increasingly shallow. Lawrence immediately opens up the cell door and rushes over to the Marcos to render aid "What's wrong, Morales! What did that guy do?!" he says as Marcos continues to wheeze and cough.
"I see him." says Marcos through his intense breathing.
Lawrence grabs Marcos' head with his hands frantically "What is it, what do you see?"
"I see him…he spoke to me." says Marcos over dramatically.
"Who did Morales, what are you talking about?"
Marcos stares at some of the glyphs and drawings on the wall behind Lawrence, which causes the young man to look behind him. "The Great Dreamer? Did Cthulhu speak to you? Did he confirm our place on Ryleh? Tell me!" he says looking directly into Marcos' eyes.
The convicted killer suddenly stops, smiles and in one lightning quick move, drives a small knife through the underside of Lawrence's jaw. The young priest twitches, blood slowly starting to seep out of his mouth as Marcos sinks the blade in deeper.
"You know I once saw this in a movie, and I always wanted to try it out. Gives my regards to Squidward for me, huh." Marcos whispers as he drops Lawrence's body on the cold stone floor, his hands now completely covered in blood. The serial killer calmly stands up and throws off the frayed bits of rope that Astur had snapped off and looks down at Lawrence, a large puddle of blood now pooling under his body "You know what, come to think of it, all this gives me an idea." he says as he looks over to a carving of the grotesque Cthulhu.
A short while later, Marcos carefully emerges from the underground catacombs, dressed in Lawrence's priest robes. He cautiously moves about, trying to maneuver his way through the hallways and avoid detection. Eventually he comes to the one darkened corridor that had been traversed by Lundy just a short while before. Hurriedly trying to make his way through, he passes a room with an open door when he hears a faint "Colonel…in here".
Marcos stops and looks inside the room, which is pitch black "Hello?" he says as he moves closer to the entrance.
"Come closer…" the voice says.
"Father, Doctor Lundy, that you?" he says walking deeper into the room. Exploring further, he sees the room is an extended storage closet, with clutter tossed about nearly everywhere "Whose there?"
The door suddenly slams shut of it's own accord and Marcos is seized by an invisible force that causes him to go numb. His body slowly levitates off the ground as the yellow robed entity with the horned mask, steps out of the shadows.
"Who are you?" says Marcos now genuinely struggling to breathe.
The entity says nothing as Marcos is thrown across the room by the same invisible force and pinned to a far wall. His head is forced to the side by an unseen hand as blood starts to drip from his nose. He than hears the same disembodied voice heard by Lundy, that now echoes in his head.
"Listen carefully descendant of Alhazred. You are being used as an unwitting pawn of Cthulhu's return. Yet you could prove to be of great use to me in the same vein. The answers you seek are to be found in the black bound book located in the sacristy adjoined to Emmett's office. Take it. Forty four, twenty nine, zero."
Marcos is than released as the yellow entity vanishes into the darkness. The escaped convict coughs repeatedly as he gains the ability to breathe freely again. Wiping the blood from his nose "What the fuck was that?" he says searching the room for any more sign of the specter "Ok, the sacristy you say? I suppose I can make one little detour."
Navigating his way through the rest of the church, Marcos finally locates the sacristy that leads to Emmett's office. He carefully sneaks in the door and looks around. The office is a standard, a large desk surrounded by a few bookshelves. In a matter of just a few minutes, Marcos quickly ransacks the entire desk as well as flipping through several of the books on the shelf but comes up empty.
"Well I don't think I'm exactly looking for a New York Times bestseller here. Where would I hide a scared book if I were a bat shit crazy cult who worshiped a scaly monster with tentacles on his face?" he says scanning the room when he comes across a mid-size painting depicting The Last Supper adjacent to the one of the bookshelves. As he removes the painting, he uncovers a false panel embedded in the wall. Carefully he peels the panel away and discovers a metal safe "Bingo. But ain't that some shit, I planted bombs, not cracked safes." Then he remembers what the yellow entity had conveyed to him "Forty four, twenty nine, zero." he says, slowly turning the dial to the corresponding numbers. Grabbing the small lever, he slides the door open. Inside is a single black covered parchment book, with a rendition of Cthulhu's likeness on the cover "The Necronomicon, I presume." he says quickly seizing the book. Marcos closes the safe, places the false panel back and re hangs the painting over top. After which he slips out of the office with none the wiser.
Just before exiting the church and completing his escape, Marcos looks down from one of the high balconies and spies the Mass still going on. He hears the unmistakable voice of Father Johnathan Emmett as he commences in his sermon message.
"…just as our savior escaped the bowels of Purgatory on that blessed Sunday morning, so to must we escape any bondage that holds us prisoner from seeking his glory. Let us pray brethren." says Emmett, his voice echoing throughout the sanctuary.
"Couldn't have said it better myself Father." says Marcos under his breath.
"An inspiring message as always Father." says Sister Farnsworth, one of the elder nuns at St. Thomas'.
"Thank you sister." responds Emmett as the parishioners start to clear the sanctuary and he steps down from the pulpit.
"Father Emmett, I was wondering if you could schedule me in tonight for some counseling? I've been studying the first few chapters of Matthew like you suggested, and it's really been speaking to me." says an older man who comes up to shake Emmett's hand.
"I'm really glad to hear it Bill and I'd love to schedule you in, just not tonight. We have some meetings with a few of the Cardinals till late, but if your good for Wednesday I think I'm all clear." says Emmett in a jovial manner.
"Thanks so much Father, sounds like a plan." says Bill walking away.
"Father, you have phone call in the lobby." says one of the nuns from behind.
"Not right now sister Mary, I'm late for an important meeting. Tell them to call back." says Emmett as he scurries to get all his sermon notes together.
"He sounded pretty insistent Father, said his name was Brother Morales?"
Suddenly Emmett's face goes deathly serious as his gaze obtain a laser like focus "Thank you Sister, I'll take the call in my office."
At that, Emmett rushes towards his office and discovers his desk ransacked. Gritting his teeth, he picks up the phone and receives the mysterious call "This is Father Emmett."
"Hello Father, really riveting sermon today, I especially like the part about breaking one's bondage." says the voice on the other end.
"Who is this?" asks Emmett.
"Just a little sacrificial birdy who may have flown the coop."
"Just how did you manage to get out?" asks Emmett, the anger steadfast in his voice.
"You know the one thing I don't understand Father, a bit of a philosophical question I suppose. Do you think it's ever truly safe to release a predator back into the wild? It could have some dire consequences."
"I don't know what game you think your playing Colonel, but I promise you won't get far."
"Well I always was a sucker for a challenge. By the way, while I'm frolicking about, do you think you could suggest any good books about The Last Supper? Kinda working on a little thesis."
Emmett's blood suddenly runs cold as his eyes drift over to the Last Supper painting on the wall, his hand slightly trembling.
"Oh I'm terribly sorry if I caught you at a bad time Father, some other time perhaps." says Marcos with a taunting chuckle as he abruptly hangs up.
Emmett slams down the phone, rips the painting down and tears away the false panel. He opens the safe and to his horror, finds it empty. In a fit of rage, he flips over his desk letting out a scream of primal anger. Just than another scream, this one of a terrified woman, echoes through the hall just a short distance away. Emmett rushes out of his office to check the disturbance and finds a small crowd of nuns and priests gathered around Father Davenport's office. Pushing his way past, he sees Davenport's corpse swaying back and forth as it hangs from the ceiling. His face now flushed with fury, Emmett runs out of the office and back down towards the secret catacombs. Entering the enclosure, he opens the cell door to find Lawrence lying in a pool of blood. Lawrence's right hand had been crudely severed and placed inside his mouth, the fingers in a claw like configuration protruding outward, as if to mockingly imitate a perverted representation of Cthulhu.
Emmett walks over and kicks the severed limb out of Lawrence's mouth as he looks around, fixating on a statue of his monstrous god "That pompous son of a bitch."