Read Online The Demon Conspiracy by R. L. Gemmill - Free Book Online Page B

the stage were
hundreds—no, thousands —of creatures. They gathered in growing numbers like it was
some kind of town meeting. As I studied them I got goose bumps.
Those things were the stuff of nightmares.
    The creatures definitely weren’t human, but
they weren’t exactly animals, either. Most of them had one head,
two arms and two legs like people. But there were plenty with extra
limbs and extra heads. A few of them even had tentacles, claws, or
long feelers, like a lobster or a cockroach. Their skin was scaly,
slimy, or covered with spines, and some looked hairy. Most of them
appeared to be man-sized and their most striking characteristic was
color. Each showed colors ranging from deep red, to gray, to green,
to dark blue. A few were gold, and some were multi-colored, but
usually not in any recognizable pattern.
    I passed the camcorder to Jon. After he
checked it over, he gave it to Travis.
    “We’ve only got an hour left on the
battery,” he whispered. “And I don’t know where the other battery
is. Get everything you can.”
    “Get what?” asked Travis. “What do you want
me to do?”
    “Record what’s down there. Maybe we can sell
the video to TV news stations. You don’t usually see something like
this in a cave.”
    “Something like what?” I asked. He offered a
slight shrug for an answer.
    Travis blinked in
understanding. “What’re you gonna do?”
    “I’m gonna watch.”
    Travis steadied the camcorder against the
rock and began taping the mysterious scene below. The viewfinder
was small and the three of us huddled close together in order to
see it.
    “Zoom in,” said Jon. “It’s that button.”
    Travis pressed the zoom button. The picture
in the viewfinder greatly enlarged, but now he had to work to keep
it from shaking. He eventually brought the creatures on the cavern
floor into focus.
    “What are they?” said Jon in a low,
quivering voice. His eyes were wide with doubt. It was one of the
few times I’d ever known him to be truly afraid.
    “Whatever they are,” I said. “I don’t think
it would be good for us if they knew we were here.”
    Jon nodded. “You got that right. Keep it at
a whisper.”
    Behind us, Chris moaned loudly. We looked
back in horror. He moaned again, even louder. I quickly crawled
beside him. Travis continued recording the amazing scene below.
    “Chris,” I said in a low voice. “How do you
feel?”
    Chris blinked his eyes open. “Everything’s
all red. Am I in Hell?”
    I glanced over my shoulder and patted him
gently on the arm. “You might be. And your leg is broken. Travis
put a splint on it.”
    “That would explain the
fiery pain. Travis did the splint? You kids amaze me. How is
everyone?”
    “Jon, Travis and I are fine. But we haven’t
found Mr. Edwards or Dr. Parrish.”
    “You’ve got to find them. Anton knows the
way out.”
    “We’ll find them. Just be quiet, okay?
Something’s down there. Something dangerous.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Just be still.”
    A collective roar went up from the creatures
below, as if they were cheering about something. Chris grabbed my
arm, terrified. I touched my index finger to my lips.
    “Shhh. Not a word. We’re right over here.” I
crawled back beside Jon and watched.
    A giant beast, scarlet colored with wide,
great wings, stomped across the stage. Its footsteps echoed through
the cavern like the booming of a bass drum. The beast fanned its
wings and folded them behind its back, sort of like a butterfly at
rest. But this was no butterfly.
    Demons! I thought to Travis. Travis nodded. The camcorder
shook. He used both hands to steady it.
    Jon looked up suddenly. “Did you hear that?
Somebody said demons!”
    I shushed him. “What else could they
be?”
    “That big one must be the boss!” said
Travis. “He’s huge!”
    The Boss Demon stood well over twenty feet
tall with long, powerful arms and hands the size of tractor tires.
One massive hand carried a long wooden staff as