Page 103 of Installment Immortality

“That’s an alkabyiftiris slime,” I said. “They’re not supposed to be found this close to civilization, or in urban areas, but that’s what it is. I don’t know if that’s the whole thing, or if it’s part of a larger slime, but either way, youdon’twant to let it touch you.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m assuming you don’t want to have your body taken over by a caustic slime mold that will gradually consume everything you are, and use you as a vehicle to get at other potential prey. This one has already had something small to eat—that’s the reddish tinge in the body. Given its size, probably roaches or maybe a rat or something that didn’t know to get out of the way. When these things get big enough, they can eat humans and bears and even moose. And by ‘eat,’ I mean ‘hollow them out and drive them around.’” I shook my head. “We should all get out of this kitchen, and Roz, you want to keep your cats away from the sink. Thankfully, it’s small, and the sink is stainless steel, which means it won’t be able to climb the sides as easily as it might otherwise. But you need to leave it alone.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Roz, sounding horrified. That was probably the appropriate response.

“You’re going to stay here, keeping all the water turned off for right now—and I know this is gross, but if you need to pee, pee in the bathtub. We don’t know how many of the building’s water sources this thing can come in through.” I found myself suddenly thinking of all the other tenants, quite a few of whom had children. Children were the perfect vehicle for an immature or fragmentary alkabyiftiris slime. Small enough to take over easily, big enough to open doors and carry the slime wherever it wanted to go.

I shuddered and turned to Malena. “Come on. We need to go talk to Carl.”

She nodded and followed me out of the apartment, leaving Roz to wring her hands and eye the sink with justified suspicion.

The elevator groaned and complained as it descended the additional floor to Carl’s basement apartment, a series of sounds thatI was quite sure Carl himself had orchestrated. The elevator ran smooth and easy throughout the rest of the building, and started behaving like something out of a horror movie as soon as it was asked to go below street level. The lights even flickered.

“Very funny,Carl,” I said, eyes turned toward the elevator ceiling. The creaks and groans continued.

“Is this safe?” asked Malena.

“Oh, it’s safe,” I said. “Bogeymen have their ways of rigging technology to discourage people from poking around where they aren’t wanted. I’m sure Carl is just trying to enforce some boundaries.”

The elevator stopped with a ding, and the doors slid open on a dark hall. I stepped out, every hair on my arms suddenly standing at attention as my mammalian instincts shrieked that I was making a terrible, potentially fatal mistake. I ran a hand along my arm to smooth the hair back down and turned to look at Malena, illuminated by the light from the still-open elevator. She looked as unsettled as I felt. Her hair was spikier than it had been, rearranging itself into scaly plates, and her hands looked like they were beginning to contort into claws.

“Carl’s an older man, and a half-transformed chupacabra crashing into his apartment will probably give him a heart attack,” I said. “Any outside plumber we call at this hour will charge triple time, minimum, and the dragons will bepissed.Think you can try to rein it in until he knows we’re here?”

“Did he not hear the elevator?” Her voice was rendered slightly mushy by her now-larger incisors and canine teeth, better suited to a muzzle than her current flat humanoid face. She sighed and shook her head. “I can stop it here. Anxiety shifts aren’t a major issue for anyone past puberty.”

“Good. This way.” I pulled out my phone, turning on the flashlight app, and started down the hall toward the door to Carl’s apartment. “There are normally at least a few workinglightbulbs around here. I guess he must have taken them out for some reason.”

“Okay, so your building handyman has taken out all the lightbulbs, and there’s a mini blob monster in the sink upstairs.”

“It’s not a blob. It’s an alkabyiftiris slime.”

“Does it have bones or an exoskeleton?”

“No.”

“Does it dissolve and devour its prey?”

“Yes.”

“‘Blob monster’ works for me. Only this is a blob monster that likes to carjack its victims before it finishes eating them. Does it like dark spaces?”

“Alkabyiftiris slime is most active at night. It’s a sort of slime mold, and it doesn’t care much for direct sunlight or really bright lights of any sort.”

“Uh-huh. Anyone else here feel like we should turn around and run the hell away, or is it just me?”

Before I could answer her, something shuffled in the hall ahead of us. I aimed my flashlight in that direction, holding it at roughly waist height to avoid shining it in Carl’s eyes. Instead, it hit him at his own waist, illuminating brown trousers and an untucked, stained plaid shirt. Streaks of slime gleamed on his clothing, clearly wet. He made a rattling noise.

I raised the flashlight beam, catching a glimpse of his face, complete with white staring eyes like poached eggs, and streaks of slime running along his cheeks and oozing from his ears and the corners of his eyes. He opened his mouth, making that rattling noise again, and I fumbled behind me with my free hand. “Run,” I said, softly.

“What?” asked Malena.

“Grab my hand, andrun.” If she dragged me, I’d be able to move faster, despite the general condition of my legs and feet. “Now,please, while we’re still ourselves.”

“Got it.” She grabbed my hand and bolted back toward the elevator. I forced my reluctant body to turn and stumble along after her, fighting gravity the entire way. My hips and back shrieked at the abuse, but I managed to remain upright as she pulled me along, until we were back at the elevator doors, Carl shuffling behind us, Malena hammering her fist against the call button.

I put a hand on my stomach, struggling to catch my breath. Then the doors opened and she yanked me inside. I turned back to the hall in time to see the elevator doors close in Carl’s slime-streaked face, shutting him outside.

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