The Wells of Hell

The Wells of Hell Read Online Free PDF Page A

Book: The Wells of Hell Read Online Free PDF
Author: Graham Masterton
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Horror
times, and then went on.
    ‘I think you left your cigarillos
over there someplace by the microscope,’ said Dan. ‘I’m just going to the
icebox next door to get out my swine fever slides if you want me.’
    I looked along the varnished
laboratory benches, and there, under a sheaf of loose data paper, were my
cigarillos. I took one out, and lit it, and waited for Dan to come back so that
I could tell him good night. The laboratory^ was silent, except for the faint
buzzing of the neon tubes. I coughed, and watched myself smoking in the dark
window. I wondered if I was going to be too late to pick up a steak before I
went home. I needed some roughage to soak up two beers and two Jack Daniel’s.
    It was then that I heard the
rustling noise. I didn’t take any notice at first. I thought it was just the
sheets of data paper, shifting from where I had moved them aside. But then I
heard it again, more distinctly, and even though it teas coming from the paper,
it certainly wasn’t the settling of the paper itself. It was too quick, too
scrabbly. There was something under there, and it sounded like a mouse.
    ‘Dan!’ I called out. ‘I’m coming!’
he told me.
    ‘I think I’ve caught the lunch break
bandit!’ I said.
    I saw the paper stirring, and I
tippy-toed nearer and cupped my hands over the place where the rustling was
coming from. There was a pause, but then the creature squeaked, and I flung
aside that data paper like a blizzard and caught its wriggling body right
between my palms. It squeaked again like crazy, and even tried to nip me with
its teeth, but I had it trapped in there good and tight.
    Dan came in with a tray of samples
and laid them on the bench.
    ‘Here he is,’ I announced. The sandwich nibbler himself.’
    ‘You caught him? That’s a neat
trick. Now what are you going to do with him?’
    I looked down at my cupped hands. ‘I
don’t know. Squash him to death, I guess.’
    Dan blinked at me. ‘Could you really
do that?’ he asked.
    I shook my head. ‘I guess not.’
    ‘Well, why don’t you just let him
go? The traps are going to catch him sooner or later.’
    ‘Maybe 1 ought to drive him up to
Canada and release him at the border.’
    Dan laughed. ‘Go on, just let him
go.’
    I hunkered down, and gradually
opened up my cupped hands. I saw a tiny pink nose, brown whiskers, pink ears,
and a furry back. And then I saw something else that made me whip my hands away
from that mouse so fast that I lost my balance, and fell with my shoulder
against the cupboards under the bench.
    I said: ‘Dan! For
Christ’s sake!’
    Dan turned and looked down at the
floor where I had dropped the mouse. He didn’t realize that anything was wrong
at first, but then he stared in horror and fascination at the creature that
stood shaking and trembling on the polished parquet, unwilling or unable to
move.
    ‘What in hell happened to him? he asked, under his breath. He knelt down beside the mouse
and peered at it even closer. The mouse squeaked a little but didn’t try to run
away.
    It couldn’t, of course. From the
middle of its back towards its hindquarters, it was covered in some kind of
dark, scaley excrescence that gave it the appearance of a huge black beetle.
Even its rear legs and its feet had been affected, and they were claw-like and
scabrous. Every one of the rough scales on its back and sides had a dull greeny-black sheen, although their edges were ragged.
    I got to my feet, my knees weak with
disgust and fright, and I went and washed my hands in the laboratory sink. I
had felt all those scales when I had caught the mouse, but I had imagined they
were nothing but sharp claws. My last beer rose in the back of my throat, and
it was only by taking a deep breath that I persuaded it to go down again.
    Dan was on all fours now, with a
transparent plastic foot-rule, and he was gently prodding the mouse with it.
    ‘Did you ever see anything like this
before?’ he asked me.
    I shook my head. ‘I hope I
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