Evil Origins: A Horror & Dark Fantasy Collection (26 page)

Samuel stood,
trying to decipher Deva’s cryptic speech. Before he could ask the creature a
question, Deva extended his arm. Samuel saw the strips of fabric and flesh
dangling from the bone. Deva turned his palm upward and opened his hand. There,
glistening in the reflected light, sat the Scout, the knife Samuel had buried
in his father’s coffin, and the one that had returned briefly to this locality.
He grabbed it from Deva’s palm and then bowed out of respect.

Chapter 16

Mara heard
Samuel speaking as if he were under water. She identified a second voice, but
could not recognize it. Her body ached, and she wanted nothing more than to
sleep, but the pain would not allow it. She listened to the cadence and rhythm
of the conversation without comprehending it.

The cave began
to take on a shimmering light. She felt an energy pulsing through the rock and
running through her entire body. It was not until she opened her eyes that she
recognized the power.

The floor
opened like the gaping maw of a fantastic beast. The darkness swirled about the
portal like water pulled down a drain. The image in front of her resurrected
long-lost lectures in science class about dark matter and black holes, immense voids
that would not allow anything to escape their gravitational pulls.

She tried to
scream out, to warn Samuel, but the force burrowing through the floor of the
cave stole her words. She writhed in pain, moaning in a vain attempt to attract
his attention.

Mara pushed
herself up onto her elbows. Her head felt light and unstable, as if it could
roll off her shoulders at any time. She squinted at the cave entrance until two
forms materialized in her vision. After blinking, one remained, and it moved
toward her. She could feel Samuel’s presence at the same time the black hole
continued its rapid expansion inside the cave.

The water that
flowed down the cave walls stopped and dried. Chunks of stalactite broke free
from the hidden ceiling and crashed down to the floor like arrows of stone. The
entire cave moved as if shaken by an unseen hand. Even the ambient light in the
cavern pulsed and faded as if a malevolent force worked to extinguish what
meager warmth it provided. The floor of the cave thrummed, and Mara caught a
whiff of sulfur so overpowering in the sensory deprivation of the locality that
it caused her to dry heave. Her ears detected a hum that increased in intensity
until it became nothing but a wall of excruciating sound threatening to split
her skull in two. She grimaced and placed her hands over her ears while rolling
in the dirt. Mara wished for the pain to end as the black hole expanded. The
edge crawled closer to her corner of the subterranean room. Mara passed out. Samuel
stood, his feet riveted, as the portal ejected a man from within.

“‘Sup,
Sammyboy?” Major asked.

Samuel looked
at Mara and then back to Major. He stood on the edge of the portal, which
danced with blue and purple light. The headband and overcoat remained intact,
but Samuel thought Major looked tired, worn out. When he looked back to Deva,
the creature was gone. Samuel felt the handle of the knife in his hand and knew
it was not a reflection or a visual construct of the powers in the cave.

“You didn’t
think pushing me through there was the end for ol’ Major now, did ya?”

“This isn’t
about you,” Samuel replied.

“Oh, I think it
is. See, you tried offing me, boy. I’ve spent enough time around thugs and
killers to know when that happens. You didn’t give me a Columbian necktie or a
pair of concrete shoes, but you tried doing me just the same.”

“Mara is hurt
bad. I don’t know what to do.”

“Fuck her, and
fuck you. I don’t really care what happens to you or your little girl. I need
you to slip us both into a brandy-new locality before that cloud outside tears
up this cave like it’s done everything else. Nobody I met here in this place
got the mojo you do, boy.”

Samuel squinted
and raised an eyebrow.

“Ah! You
haven’t been outdoors in a while, have you? C’mon and take a look. I won’t
bite.”

Major stepped
away from the portal. He held an arm out toward the entrance of the cave like a
bouncer at an exclusive club. Samuel looked at him and then back to Mara.

“Seriously. She’s
as good as dead. You and I got unfinished business. Frankly, I don’t care what
you do with her.”

Samuel nodded
and walked toward the entrance to the cave as if he approached the edge of the
roof of a city skyscraper. He felt the empty blackness before he reached the
threshold.

Samuel
remembered the military videos he had seen in his youth, the ones filmed in the
American Southwest during atomic-bomb trials. This scene reminded him of that.

The
cloud had lifted somewhat, which allowed a view of the landscape across the
field, and all the way to the base of the mountain in the distance. Most of the
trees lay on their sides, with gnarled root balls jutting from holes in the
soil. The swaying wheat from the field lay flat like the massive crop circles
that appeared in England. Even the mountain in the distance appeared bare,
tired and lonely like a hunchbacked man waiting for death. Between the surface
and the bottom of the cloud hung light, much like the light generated inside
the cave. It gave Samuel enough to see the landscape, as if it were created with
software for a child’s movie about fairy tales gone horribly wrong. The
movement inside the dark cloud coalesced into silvery streaks of motion that
resembled serpents. Samuel thought of all of the ancient myths about flying,
feathered snakes, and now thought those old ones to be a bit less foolish. Silent
lightning bounced between spots in the cloud, while the air felt heavy and
still at the surface. Samuel scanned as far as he could see, but detected no
life. The wolves were hiding or already eaten by the cloud, and the horde,
along with Deva, did not show their faces if they even still remained in the
locality. Samuel regained a sliver of his sense of smell, although he wished he
had not. The dying world smelled that way. He tried not to breathe in the air
that tasted like cold, wet cigarettes. As he stood, gazing upon a world that
was never his, the cloud inched closer to the surface in a slow, methodical
descent.

“The
last phase. Seen it a few times, closer than I care to admit. Luckily we got
you, so you and I can sell our front-row seats to the shit-storm.”

Samuel
turned and saw the spreading smile on Major’s face. He wanted nothing more than
to pummel that look from his skull, but knew that Major would not let that
happen. He had come back from the banishment in the portal, and he had
knowledge about this that Samuel did not.

“What
happens when the final curtain comes down?”

“Not
really sure,” replied Major. “Heard some stories in other localities, but it’s
always hard to verify. Not like someone’s gonna get video of it on their phone,
right?”

The
reference to the ordinary made Samuel wince. He thought about the phone, the
television, the car, and all of the other supremely boring everyday items in
his life, and he wanted nothing more than to feel that again. It was not the
extreme high points he missed while being abandoned in this locality, but the
little stuff. He wondered if he would ever have that chance again. He dreamed
about standing on a frost-covered driveway in the bright sun of a February
morning. He smiled when picturing the brilliant green of the lawn in the first
few weeks of spring. He could almost taste the bitter jolt of a hot cup of
French-roast coffee.

“You
with me, pardner?”

Samuel
nodded.

“I’d
love to stand hear and watch the world die like they sang about in that
Everclear song, but I don’t want to go down the drain.”

The
pop-culture reference was another dagger in Samuel’s heart. He remembered how
much he missed his music, even the free stuff he received from friends.

“I’ll
hear you out.”

“Damn
straight. Not like I’m giving you a choice. I’m being a gentleman.”

Samuel
huffed at Major’s self-proclamation.

“We
both know you can open the portal. We both know you can slip, with my help. We
both know that there ain’t much time left before the cloud sucks this place
dry. But only one of us knows that the girl’s gotta be left behind.”

“I
can’t do that,” replied Samuel.

“You’re
going to have to, son. I ain’t never seen someone slip more than one other
person, and I sure as hell ain’t getting left behind. Again.”

“So
you leave her here to die?”

“She’s
already dead, brother. Don’t ya get it?”

Samuel
shook his head. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Where
do you think you are? This ain’t Wyoming or Montana or some other heavenly
wilderness.”

Mara
moaned. Samuel looked at her and then back to Major.

Major
sighed and walked to an outcrop of rock. He sat down on it and put his head in
his hands. The old man looked out of the cave and back at Samuel, shaking his
head.

“I
guess we ain’t getting where I thought we would. You sure you’re not willing to
slip her out of here all by her lonesome?”

“No,”
said Samuel as he stared at Major, his eyes as solid as the walls of the
cavern. “I’ve got another plan. I spoke with Deva.”

Major
laughed, slapping his knee with one hand. “Deva? What the fuck is that? You
talking to Aretha or Mariah out here?”

Samuel
waited for Major’s snickers to die off before continuing. “I think he might
control the horde.”

“Nobody
controls the horde, son. Just because the storm is coming doesn’t mean I can
claim I sent it.” Major stood and brushed the front of his overcoat. “I’d love
to continue your education, but I seriously don’t give a rat’s ass about it. We
need to slip from this place before it’s too late. If you can’t do that with
me, I’m just as happy to go it alone.”

Major
pulled a dagger from underneath his coat. In the other hand he held a tire
iron. “It’s not Lord of the Rings–caliber weapons, but it’ll be enough to get
the talisman from your dead body.”

“What
if we try slipping three?” asked Samuel. He had to resolve the action he was
about to take by exhausting all possibilities first.

“Cloud
ain’t gonna wait for us to talk through this like a couple of grade-school
girlies. You either slip me or I’m going to do it myself. I don’t think I’ve
got the accuracy that you do, but at this point, any locality would be better
than this one.”

Samuel
looked down at the knife in his palm. He felt the familiar texture of the
handle and the weight of it. He knew the blade was no match for the dagger in
Major’s hand, but he had age and fitness on his side.

“Then
I guess there isn’t much left to say,” said Samuel.

Major
nodded and spread his feet shoulder-width apart. He crouched low, his beady
eyes peering from beneath the edge of his headband. Major held the dagger in
front of his face while the tire iron dangled from his other hand.

Samuel
gripped Scout in his hand and took a step toward Major. He looked at the old
man’s face and waited, giving one last pause. Samuel had not been in many fistfights
as a kid, but he could never forget the concoction of fear, anxiety, and
adrenaline that surged through his veins prior to the beginning of a physical
altercation. He felt his tongue stiffen in a dry mouth, and the muscles in both
his arms twitched. When Major shook his head, Samuel knew the time for
negotiations had ended.

Major
swung the dagger in a lazy arc, cutting the air with the sharpened blade. He
brought it back and forth, carving a safe space between him and Samuel. The
tire iron waited, the cold metal knowing the time for bashing would come soon
enough. Samuel stepped closer, keeping his blade upright in a defensive block,
although he thought one full swing from Major’s dagger would break his own
blade. He bent down to pick up a rock in his left hand.

“You’re
desperate, boy. Last chance.”

Samuel
ignored Major and swung hard, with his fist closed around the knife. Major
stepped back to dodge it and came around with a kick to Samuel’s knee. The blow
from his boot to Samuel’s injured leg made him wince. Major watched as he
dropped the rock to grab the damaged ligaments. When Samuel squatted, Major
came across his shoulder with the tire iron. Samuel fell sideways, and his head
crashed into the powdery dirt of the cavern floor. The tire iron felt like it had
cut a burning hole in his shoulder, which helped to distract him from the pain
in his leg.

Major
stepped back and waited. Samuel writhed on the ground, biting his tongue to
keep his cries from filling the cave. Major waited for Samuel to stand. When he
did, Major brought the tire iron into Samuel’s midsection, where it struck his ribs.
Major heard the bones crack before Samuel felt the searing pain. Samuel doubled
over and dropped Scout on the ground.