Chapter 205

7.c.xiv.

Bear Market’s body swelled like an overstuffed tick.  Supply’s head, and most of her upper arms, jutted above the trench wall.  Her body, still in the shaft below, was squeezed unnaturally in the narrow corridor.

“Demand!  You’ve got to help her!  You have to increase.  You have to grow!” Business Woman shouted.  Her hands gripped and gouged at Bear Market’s lips.  She yanked, trying to unclench his teeth and jaws.

“Do it Demand!  Now or else–”

Bear Market exploded.

A burst of blood geysered from Supply’s neck.  The initial crimson shock wave hit The Crash, spilling it into the trench.  The Crash dropped Franklin Buck as it tried to grasp the trench wall, but its hands slipped, unable to grip for all the blood.

Pieces of Bear Market rained down onto the maze and into the labyrinth; fluttering flaps of skin and chunks of matted hair-fur.  His jaw, still lodged in Supply’s neck, the source of a scarlet fountain.  Supply writhed and twisted and slowly shrank into the depths of the trench.

Business Woman lay strewn across a wall, gasping for breath, clinging to the unexpected perch.

“Help Franklin Buck,” Corporate Man shouted as he dropped down from above, necktie-cape fluttering behind him, landing near Business Woman.  He was coated with a fine spray of red mist and a shrapneling of bear meat.

“I’ve got you,” Corporate Man said, clutching her wrist.  “Can you stand?”

Business Woman nodded and, with his help, she regained her feet.  Across the maze Senior Executive helped Franklin Buck find his footing.  Then both men lifted Commander Credit, supporting him on their shoulders.

“We’re making for the exit,” Senior Executive called out.  “Where are Supply and Demand?”

Corporate Man looked into the trench.  Supply lay there, deflated and still.  Face down in her own blood.  He shook his head.

“What about Demand?  He could still be alive,” said Business Woman.

“I doubt it.  You can’t have one without the other.  I could head down there and take a–”

A roar shook the arena and then everything started to quake.  The Crash rumbled through the trenches, swinging its huge arms, breaking walls, toppling whole sections of the maze into the dark spaces of the labyrinth.

“Run!” Corporate Man yelled.

They dashed across the maze, turning haphazardly at intersections, choosing a course that took them away from The Crash’s rampage, but in the general direction of the stage. 

The labyrinth was fast becoming a pile of rubble.

The pathway veered twice and put them on an intersecting path with the destroyer below.

“We have to turn back,” Corporate Man said.

“No.  I think this well lead us out,” said Business Woman.

“It’s gonna lead us out of this life.”

“Trust me.  This is the way.”

The maze banked again putting The Crash on their right instead of directly ahead.

“See.  We’ll be alright,” said Business Woman. 

The Crash swerved toward them.  Debris, papers, shattered wall, and mangled body parts rose about the giant like a dust devil.  It exploded through the maze wall that Corporate Man and Business Woman were running along leaving an expansive gap in their path.

“Hang on!” Corporate Man called out as they reached the edge. He grabbed Business Woman around the waist and jumped.  His necktie unfurled behind him and they dropped down onto the ledge on the far side of the Crash created chasm.  They raced down the walkway, huge television monitors fell from the ceiling and shattered all around them.  Amidst a shower of broken glass and ruined diodes they made it to the stage area.

Senior Executive, Franklin Buck, and a very groggy Commander Credit awaited them.

“The elevator’s this way,” said Senior Executive.

They ran to the exit door and out into a hallway.  Behind them The Crash continued its ruinous assault on the stock market floor.

Chapter 203

7.c.xii.

They raced through the corridors, Bear Market snarling and gnashing at their backs.  Business Woman was in the rear.  She could feel the damp heat of sure death on her ankles as she ran.

“Which way?” Supply shouted as they approached a divergence in the trench labyrinth.

“I don’t know,” said Business Woman.  “Just go.  Go!  GO!”

They turned right and kept running.  Bear Market slammed into the corridor wall as his intended prey swept around the corner, but he was at Business Woman’s back again within a couple of strides. 

“If we turn into a dead end we’ll encounter the literal meaning of that term,” said Demand.

Jaws snapped and snagged the back of Business Woman’s suit jacket.  Bear Market jerked his head, tearing the dark blue fabric and disrupting her stride.  She stumbled, then slammed into the floor and slid.  Her speed carried her into an intersection of corridors.  Supply and Demand turned left.  Business Woman scrambled, redirected her momentum, and launched herself to the right.  Bear Market’s teeth snapped on the empty air she’d occupied only seconds before.  She yanked her jacket off, backed further into the corridor, and shook it like a matador.

Bear Market charged.

He was almost upon her when Business Woman jerked the jacket to the left and pivoted to allow the beast passage.  Bear Market, anticipating the feint, bit toward the right.  His jaws clamped down on empty air again as Business Woman leapt upward, slammed her palms onto Bear Market’s head, used it as a spring board, and vaulted over the charging ursine body.  As soon as her feet touched the ground she streaked down the passageway after Supply and Demand.

She found her companions less than one hundred yards later.

At a dead end.

“We’re dead,” said Demand.

“No,” Business Woman said.

“We.  Are.  Dead,” said Demand, turning toward her.

“We can beat this thing,” said Business Woman.

“How?” asked Supply.

A roar echoed off the walls.  Bear Market slowly crept around the corner and into view.

“Increase Supply on all necessary commodities,” said Business Woman.

“That won’t deter Bear Market,” Supply said.

“Just do it!” Business Woman shouted.  Immediately, Supply started growing.  “When prices plummet we’ll buy up everything, reverse it, and increase demand.  I can then–”

She froze.

“My PDA’s gone,” Business Woman said, rifling through her jacket.  “It must have dropped–”

Bear Market slammed into them.  A clawed, paw-shaped hand knocked Demand against the side wall.  Blood flowed into the fabric of his purple jacket along four slashing lines.  Bear Market’s other arm pinned Supply against the wall as he snapped his jagged mouth at Business Woman.  She dodged the gnashing teeth, but, without hesitation, Bear Market jerked toward Supply and clamped down on her neck.

There was a sound that occurred during this moment.  It wasn’t a terrified scream, like that of trapped prey or horror movie unfortunates.  It was muffled, slightly gurgled, and similar to the noise a person makes after eating something distasteful or hot but finds they are unable to spit it out.

This sound came from Bear Market.

Supply was swelling. 

Terrified and panicking, she was unable to think of anything other than my-god-a-huge-man-bear-is-killing-me.  As her mass increased, so did the amount of blood in her system.  Blood that Bear Market was feasting on. Blood that was gushing down his throat.

And he couldn’t let go.

His teeth were buried in her neck flesh, which was expanding and bloating.  Bear Market’s back hunched.  He thrashed, struggling to get free.  His violent movements furthered Supply’s panic and her size doubled in seconds.  Bear Market puffed up like a mosquito trapped in a camper’s arm.

“Supply!  Calm down!” Demand shouted, his hand clutching the bleeding gashes on his side.  But his shouts grew softer as his body shriveled and diminished.  A moment later Supply’s body filled the trench.  Demand was the size of rat.

Business Woman leapt onto Supply’s knee and climbed up to her shoulder.  She grabbed Bear Market’s jaw and wrenched it, but nothing happened.  Panic flashed in Bear Market’s eyes and she redoubled her efforts, tugging and prying and pounding on his snout.

Chapter 201

7.c.x.

The labyrinth didn’t necessarily follow the same path as the ledge-maze above.  For instance, there were circular doorways that tunneled through sidewalls allowing passage where, up on top, there was no such option.  More than one corridor that at first appeared unbarred became impassable when the walkway became a decline, dipping far beneath floor level, and terminating at a steep wall.  And there were pits in the floor that dropped away into blackness.  If one were to test the depths of these dark holes by dropping something down one of them, a dismembered hand of an unlucky day trader for example, it would be an unnerving amount of time before a thudding report sounded from the bottom.

“Damn that’s deep,” said Business Woman, wiping blood from her hands on the suit of a nearby, hand-amputated corpse.

“Can we jump it?” asked Demand.

Business Woman tilted her head, shoulders slumping, and said, “You want to try?”

“Well... not really.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Supply.  “Go back?  I think Bear Market’s back there.”

“Yeah.  Can’t go back,” said Business Woman. 

“I could grow and get you guys out of here.  There’s often an excess supply of luxury items during a crash so it wouldn’t be that difficult.”

“No.  Then you’d be trapped down here alone and we’d still be lost but up there with The Crash.  Maybe if you were big you could see better and lead–”

Business Woman stopped.  She stared at the pit and bit her lower lip.

“Well we can’t–” Demand started.

“Hold on.  Give me a second here,” said Business Woman holding her palm toward Demand.  A low, rumbling growl echoed off the trench walls.  It sounded close.  “Okay.  Demand.  Focus on increasing the demand of a particular commodity.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,” said Business Woman.  “Just pick one.”

“You mean… Oranges or something?” Demand asked.

“Sure.  Whatever pops into your head first.”

Demand scowled and took a deep breath.  His jaw clenched and his hands bunched into fists.  The floor vibrated, a slight tingly hum are first, and then an excited, pleasure-bed shudder. A section of floor rose up from the pit and locked into place, almost seamless with the rest of the trench floor.

“Come on, quick, before Bear Market catches up to us,” Business Woman said as they sped across the new floor.  Then, as if on cue, a roar echoed off the walls, loud and close.

“Wait a second,” said Demand, turning back.  He held his hands up, palms outward, and eyes pinched shut.  There was a crack, like a rifle shot, and the section of floor fell away, leaving a pit once more.

“So he can’t follow us,” Demand said.

Bear Market charged around a corner and into view, flailing his clawed, syrupy-red paw-hands and roaring.  He skidded to a stop at the edge of the pit, howled wildly, and slammed his arms against the floor, claws gouging jagged ravines across the smooth surface.  Two snuffling grunts sent sprays of ravenous saliva and day trader red into the air.  Then he bolted back down the corridor, the way he’d come.

“Too bad,” said Business Woman.  “I was hoping he’d fall into the pit.”

“That just what I was think–”

But Demand didn’t finish.  Another deep roar cut him off.  And then heavy pounding footsteps.

Bear Market burst into view, charged down the trench corridor, and leapt over the pit like a pouncing cougar.  His hairy, blood matted body slammed against the floor and slid toward them leaving a scarlet trail.

And then he was up, springing forward.  Howling and snarling.  Terrible teeth bared, ragged with scraps of torn suit fabric and stockbroker flesh.

Chapter 199

7.c.viii.

Deep bellowing growls echoed through the labyrinth accompanied on occasion by high-pitched, blood curdling shrieks.

“We’ve been this way already,” Supply said.

“No we haven’t,” said Business Woman.  “I don’t recognize… Oh wait.  Yep.  That dead guy over there.  I’ve seen that poor bastard before.”

Pieces of torn up day traders lie scattered about their feet. A metal, gamey smell clung to air, intermingling with the scent of terror loosened bowels. The deep roar sounded in the corridors again.  They could feel it vibrate through their chests.

“We’ve got to move,” said Demand.  “Quickly.”

“Yeah, but which way?  Where is that thing?” said Supply.

Business Woman peered tentatively around a corner and then motioned for her companions to follow.  When the path split they paused to consider their options.  Someone nearby screamed.  This was followed by a loud roar and more screaming. 

And then wet sounds.  

Cracking sounds. 

Gurgling choking sounds.

Business Woman led them toward the disturbance.

“Wait?  Why are we going toward it?” asked Supply.

“We don’t know if this path leads toward that thing or not,” said Business Woman.  “The other direction might double back and put us right in Bear Market’s jaws.”

They turned another corner and saw a bear-man eating a day trader. 

Supply jumped and Business Woman shifted into a defensive posture.

Financial stats scrolled beneath the image and the scene played again but this time in slow motion.

“That’s it,” said Business Woman pointing to the huge telescreen hanging above the far end of the corridor.  “This whole place is jammed with TVs.  Everything is being filmed.  We should be able to get a fix on Bear Market once they cut back to live footage.”

Another slow motion replay of a particularly gory encounter appeared on the screen.  A group, consisting of two day traders and an errand boy, ran afoul of Bear Market.  The chivalrous day traders let the errand boy have first go at the snarling beast, shoving their younger colleague forward and then, in a further display of generosity, allowing him ample space for the impending exchange by turning quickly and running down the corridor.  Luckily, the day traders were not refused a part in the fray as the errand boy held up as well as wet toilet paper against a circular saw and Bear Market was on top of them before they could disappear around the first corner.

Several statistics flickered across the screen and the stock ticker continued its ceaseless scrolling.  A wide angle, bird’s-eye shot of the arena replaced the slow motion brutality.  The Crash stamped along the top of the maze, bulldozing the scurrying day traders, trampling a few unlucky ones and knocking several more into the death trench.

Bear Market was visible at the edge of the screen.  A red fog seemed to hover around him.

“He’s a couple of walls that way,” Business Woman said, gesturing.  “And it looks like we can get to the end of this maze if we keep heading the way we’re going, then take the second right, followed by the third right, and then a quick left before – Ah!  The screen changed.  We’ll just have to find another TV when we get that far.”

They moved down the corridor, through echoing growls and screams, hoping that Bear Market wouldn’t roar into their path.

Chapter 197

7.c.vi.

“Anything broken or sprained real bad?” Business Woman asked.

“My shoulder,” said Demand.  “But nothing that’ll keep me from moving.”

“I’m fine,” said Supply.

Business Woman looked around.  It was dark in the trench.  The walls were charcoal grey and there were marks, like cliff shearing, scraping down them.  She pushed her way past an errand boy and a couple of day traders and called out, “Bull!  Bull Market?  You okay?  Are you hurt?”

She rounded a corner easing past two of the polo-clad sect as they helped a fine-suited trader gain his feet.  Both had visible injuries.  A gashed and bleeding head, a leg that seemed to attach incorrectly, a broken nose, and extremely dislocated fingers. Beyond them was Bull Market.  He was doubled over, writhing and moaning.

“Bull, buddy, what’s wrong?” Business Woman asked, ignoring the pleads of the injured day traders nearby.

“Get away from me,” he grunted.  “Go!  While you still can.”

“Bull Market, listen to–”

“Go!  I can’t stop him.  He’s coming.  Run!” Bull Market screamed.  Then his back arched and something deep inside him cracked.  He howled, in agony, and tore at his chest, ripped open the buttons of his shirt, and yanked frantically at his tie.

“Oh shit,” said Business Woman.  She turned and ran back down the corridor, shouting, “Go!  Go!  It’s nineteen eighty-seven all over again.  Run!”

“What is it?  What’s happened?”  Supply said as she and Demand took their cues and ran.  Several of the more intelligent day traders followed suit.

“It’s Bull Market,” said Business Woman.  “He’s gone Bear!”

Bull Market’s thick, bovine face contorted unnaturally as he shrieked.  Hollow, wet sounds, like rocks scraping together in a bowl of oatmeal, grated beneath his skin.  His blunted teeth cracked and then splintered into sharp, jagged points.  Tufts of coarse, musky hair sprouted all over his body.  His suit, ragged and torn, clung to him in tatters.

And then Bear Market roared.

A couple of the less intelligent day traders, having ignored Business Woman’s subtle hints that they should vacate the area, caught sight of Bear Market.  Realization came too late.  The beast was upon them, clawing and gnashing and growling.  Jagged teeth ripped away huge chunks of spurting flesh.

Blood and screams painted the dark walls of the labyrinth.