Part one: An oar for rowing, an oar for swinging…

The sky was the color of rust, the clouds the color of steel…

"Wesssst...Wesssssssssst," The words tugged at Herbert West's backbrain, threatening to pluck it from his skull and send it screaming into the wastes. In one fluid motion, a syringe slid down from a hidden compartment inside his shirt sleeve and he quickly administered a small dose of reagent into the base of his skull. Almost immediately, the pressure on his brain receded, but the remedy was becoming problematic as his reserves were frighteningly low.

The pain gone, he resumed rowing the small metal fishing boat he had procured from the storeroom of a sporting goods store. It had been overturned when he found it, and had become the home of something almost human. The thing protested, but did nothing to stake its claim on the boat and merely slipped into the shadows.

Like most coastal towns, Arkham being no different, the streets became waterways once the sewers backed up, almost like Venice for monsters, so boats were a much more practical means of locomotion than say cars, or for that matter, walking.

Herbert struggled with the oars, his arms more accustomed to plunging syringes and mixing chemicals than rowing. Jehovah stood at the bow of the boat, his front paws straddling the sides of the small craft's apex, his human head taking in the sights and sounds of this unfamiliar locale. He turned towards Herbert, "Wish I could help with that, but as you can see," he held up a dogs paw, "No hands." He turned back towards the front of the boat, a smile on his face.

Before Herbert could respond, he caught movement to his right. They had entered a canyon of glass and steel, rubble strewn about from crumbling buildings. The structures in this section of town were a mismatched lot that sagged and leaned, several of them leaning towards one another forming tunnels over the water. One building in particular looked like nothing more than a concrete skeleton upon which perched a handful of black winged creatures that took flight when Herbert rowed into view.

The aforementioned motion came in the form of cancer demons, this generation's gremlin, as several of them were skittering over piles of debris, gravity seeming to have no effect on them. Cancer demons were fairly harmless creatures as they spent most of their time looking for things to smoke, although they have been known to smoke the occasional arm or leg. Their skin was pale and cancerous, pustules rising then bursting, releasing a sickly smoke into the air. Their heads hairless, elf-eared and spotted with six eyes. The two examples on display here had already found their vice, the smaller of the two smoking a fat Cuban cigar, the other one's mouth looking like a red ashen chimney as it smoked what looked to be dozens of cigarettes all at once.


"Filthy creatures," Jehovah said: "Filthy creatures with a filthy habit."

"They're harmless really," Herbert replied, "Besides, everyone has their filthy habits...wouldn't you agree?"

"If that's a licking your balls joke..."

Suddenly, a demon appeared directly in front of Herbert. Unfazed, he sat back, put his arms behind his head and let the demon go about its business. The demon looked him over; disturbing considering it had six eyes, and set about its task of looking through his clothing. Its mouth, which took up entirely too much of its face, was a disgusting display of rotten teeth and bad intentions.

It plunged its long fingered hands into Herbert's shirt, feeling around for something, anything that might be of use to it. Its calloused skin skimmed delicately, almost insect-like across Herbert's torso...

Finding nothing, it let out a disgusted cough, which unseated the remaining black-winged creatures, turned to look towards Jehovah, then disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. Herbert looked in the direction it had gone and shrugged his shoulders.

"Like I said Herbert," Jehovah said with a disgusted look on his face, "Filthy creatures."

Their boat bumped into something, or some things, the noise echoing off the buildings. Jehovah looked down, the river beneath them a steaming stew whose ingredients consisted of trash, bodyparts, not all of which were human, and living things that neither of them could identify.

The sun was directly overhead and barely perceptible through the gray clouds, the rust colored sky turning it into a painful red color. After their recent excitement, Jehovah was content to just lie on his back, balls to the sky, a sight that Herbert could have done without...

"So why the trip?" Jehovah asked.

"For the sake of science," Herbert replied. "I need to see all there is to see, learn all there is to learn."

"Bullshit!" Jehovah coughed, trying to put a paw over his mouth. "We're on a dead run, aren't we Herbert?"

"But of course." Herbert replied and this time, it was his turn to smile...

The rest of the afternoon went on without incident, the silence interrupted by the sound of oars moving water and the occasional collision with river things. Up ahead, Herbert spied a suspension bridge that looked to be covered with cars. As good a place as any to look for the vehicle they would eventually need for their cross-country trip. Boats will only take us so far, Herbert thought to himself, Once we hit the Mississippi, the waters will cease and the deserts will rise.

The shadows of evening were gaining strength, when a violent rocking stirred Jehovah from a deep, peaceful sleep. The first thing he noticed was Herbert standing above him, an oar raised above his head. The second thing he noticed, as he attempted a scream, a scaly pair of hands pulling on the side of the boat.

"Deep One!" Herbert exclaimed as he tried to keep his footing.


Jehovah rolled over and got to his feet. Within seconds he had his mouth wrapped around several of the scaly fingers, the webbing between them tearing in his teeth.

"Step away from the fish-man," Herbert said and swung the oar, threatening to send both of them in the water. The swing missed, the rocking boat throwing off his aim, and the oar splintered, sending shards of it in all directions. Almost before he knew what he was doing, Jehovah picked up one of the bigger splinters with his mouth and drove it deep into the fish-man's hand. The pain was obvious, but his plan backfired, as the thrashing of the injured creature, coupled with Herbert's uneven wobbling, capsized the boat sending them all into the litter strewn water. Jehovah's instincts took over and he began to doggy paddle towards the shore, looking back to see if Herbert had followed. Seeing nothing but the overturned boat, he turned in time to see both Herbert and the fish-man burst from the water, their arms at each other's throats.

After what seemed like several minutes of thrashing, Herbert managed to free himself from the creature's grasp only to have it put him in a headlock and fall backwards into the water, Herbert's legs standing upright as he sank. Again, they surfaced, Herbert lifting the fish-man out of the water by his gill slits. It bellowed, releasing a mighty frog-like croak. Herbert took the opportunity and began to climb onto the island that was the boat, the wounded creature on his shirt tails. It lunged at him, shredding pants and leg alike, then looked up to see Herbert's counter-lunge, a syringe in his hand. The syringe, green fluid glowing in the moonlight, plunged deep into the fish-man's gills, sending it into violent convulsions which when ceased, left it floating face down in the water.

His energy spent, Herbert tried his best to swim towards Jehovah, but failing in his effort, waited for him to drag him to shore.

Neither saying anything, they both lay on the rocky shore, which was actually the front steps of an impressive piece of architecture, and watched as a half-dozen deep ones emerged from the water. Their eyes bulging and lips pouting, their mottled skin dripping with water.

Then their world went black...

(Edited on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 11:15 AM, edited again on Friday, September 25, 2009 at 8:36 PM with the help of K.L. Young, final edit on Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 6:16 PM, Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 7:17 PM, Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 1:15 PM and Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 11:48 AM)