No Pain, No Gain: Part 3 – It's Fun to Stay at the Y.M.C.A.

The YMCA was still a very handsome design. Despite its condition, the building was stately and bombastic, invoking a more proud and positive time. There was a chain fence surrounding the plot, and the building itself was heavily boarded.

Towards the back, accessible through a small gate in the fence, was a small square building. Lights were visible inside. Heavy weed growth ran from the building right up to the fence.

Hammer peeked in. The cottage had a bedsit-type layout with a kitchen/living room and a separate bathroom/bedroom. It was very clean and tidy, in stark contrast to the surrounding area. "Someone's here, but not in the cottage," he whispered. "So stay alert."

They all drew their pistols as they made their way to the larger building.

Large growths of weeds and fungus were everywhere inside. There were normal varieties, but were prodigiously healthy.

"First, a little preparation for whatever didn't show up in that photograph," said Archive. He scrawled the Elder Sign on their pistols with his chalk.

"Every YMCA has to have a pool," said Hammer. He led the way into the main room.

It was a wreck. Fallen masonry made footing precarious, the walls were filthy and cracked, and broken skylights let the elements in. The whole place reeked of feces and the hot coppery scent of blood.

The main pool was a filthy brownish green, with a thick oily sheen upon the surface. In one corner of the pool sat a bloated, humanoid figure about the size of a car. Atop a pale flabby body was a flat round face with tiny black pinprick eyes and a wide mouth full of needle-like teeth. A brown tentacle-like tongue occasionally flicked from between the teeth, leaving a glistening trail. If the creature had lower limbs, they could not be seen past its vast, distended belly.

"What. The Hell. Is That," said Hammer calmly.

"Just another tentacled beast stewing in a pool of blood and feces," said Jim-Bean wryly. more