In This Skin (44 page)

    In seconds they were through the doors onto the dance floor. They no longer needed the flashlights. The inferno filled the room with white light. The entire wall that backed the stage appeared to be blazing.

    More pools of fire formed on the timber stage itself. The heat was nothing less than a physical presence scorching their skin, stinging their eyes. Smoke rolled like a weird black sea across the ceiling, sending waves of poisonous fumes from one side of the room to the other.

    Acrid gases irritated the backs of their throats. Coughing, they made for the side of the stage, where the flames were smaller.

    ”You're not going to make it that way,”Nathaniel rumbled. ”You'll burn.”

    ”It's the only way out,”Benedict told him. ”We have to cross the stage, then head through the corridors to the stage door.”

    ”You won't make it.”

    Benedict turned to Noel. ”Lead Robyn and Ellery through there… there's a break in the fire. Get out of the building.”

    ”You'll need a hand.”

    ”No, take Robyn and the baby out of here. Nathaniel will help me get Mariah out.”If she's alive, was the unspoken thought he tagged onto the sentence.

    There was no other exit. They psyched themselves to enter the firestorm that raged in front of them.

    

    

    The burn on his left cheek hurt Logan, It made him angrier than ever.

    He'd just gotten through the burning stage area in time before the timber stage itself caught light. Even so, a hunk of stage curtain had fallen like a blazing meteor to brush the side of his head. As well as the burn on his cheek, his ear had been seared, too, and a chunk of his hair had gone in one singeing flash.

    Man, was he pissed.

    Now Logan crouched in the corridor that ran back from the stage toward the back doors. Common sense told him to wait outside where it was safe.

    But fuck common sense. He wanted to see Eh-Eh-Ellery burn, or go down with a couple of hot slugs busting his gut. The heat from the fire was intense, but he could bear it here. What's more, he could watch the dance floor in the brilliant light cast by the inferno. If they came this way, he'd see all right.

    Three minutes later, Logan grinned. Man, oh man, good call. He'd been proven right. 'Cause here comes the stutter monkey and posse.

    Comprising: one girl with a baby, two regular guys and one giant… the giant seemed to have weird feet, but with the fog of fumes Logan couldn't figure it out. He grinned. Not that it mattered: in another sixty seconds he'd have Eh-Eh-Ellery in his sights, then he'd start shoe-shoe-shooting…

    

    

    The sheet of flame that was the stage curtain covered the entire wall behind the stage. Benedict heard coughs from Robyn and the rest develop into hacking rasps. The heat had become nothing less than a physical barrier that they had to push against, their faces stinging.

    Benedict feared for the baby in Robyn's arms. Robyn, too, was exhausted.

    Nine months pregnancy crushed down into a matter of hours. Giving birth.

    Now this. How much more could she take before she collapsed?

    They were halfway across the dance floor when Nathaniel stopped them.

    ”You're not going to make it through the fire.”

    Noel's face blazed with fury at their way being blocked by the firestorm. ”That's the only way out!”

    ”There's another route.”

    Nathaniel had barely spoken the words when Benedict felt a sudden wash of cooling air that was fresh as woodland mists in the fall.

    ”No. We're not going through there.”Noel shook his head.

    ”What choice do you have? Think about your woman and your child.”

    A hole had appeared in the smoke. Ringed by mist, it contained a cool gray light in its center. Nathaniel must have opened the portal by whatever mysterious process he employed.

    For a second it seemed the firestorm fought back against the cooler currents of air from that other place. Smoke rolled over them in waves.

    The heat intensified. Sparks drifted down onto their heads from the blazing stage curtain.

    Robyn glanced at Noel. ”We don't have a choice.”Not waiting for him to reply, she hunched herself over the child in a stoop to protect him from the falling sparks. Then she ran at the ten-foot halo of fog that hovered just an inch above the dance floor. Without a flicker of self doubt on his face, Ellery followed, too.

    Nathaniel gripped Noel by the elbow. ”Take care of them.”

    For a moment Benedict wondered if Noel would turn the gun on the giant.

    His eyes burned with fury. He figured that somehow Nathaniel had planned all this, so they'd be forced into that other gray world, where men who were monsters waited for the coming of the healer. Half the blazing curtain fell with a soft whump sound. It covered the stage in a carpet of fire. Sparks flew, ferociously stinging any exposed skin they found. Noel jerked his elbow free of Nathaniel's massive hand. A moment later he vanished, following Robyn and Ellery into that other realm.

    Benedict turned to the fiery stage, then shot a glance at Nathaniel. ”I don't know if she will have survived.”

    ”I'm bringing her out.”

    Benedict disagreed. ”We're bringing her out.”

    Running to the front elevation of the stage, where the dwarf door was located, Benedict saw smoke curl out where the door met the jamb, and he dreaded what he'd find in there.

    

    

    Logan blinked against the inferno's glare. He'd seen Ellery Hann and the others start running. Then they disappeared into the smoke, never to come out. The big weird guy and his buddy raced at the stage as if they were going to take their chance hopping over the flames, only they ducked down beneath the edge of the stage and vanished, too. What crazy shit were they aiming to pull? When no one appeared, Logan decided he'd have to go to them. Clearly they weren't going to come running to him, waiting here ready and rarin' to go with his fully-loaded SMG.

    Inconsiderate bastards.

    

    

    Robyn didn't know how she did it, but she did it. She kept her footing as the hard, flat dance floor dissolved under her feet to be replaced by uneven ground, covered with a slippery mat of rotting leaves. Instantly the smoke vanished. Cool, damp air washed across her hot face. She ventilated her lungs, expelling the toxic fumes from the burning Luxor.

    After blinking away the tears caused by the smoke, she saw that she walked through a small clearing in the gray forest. All she saw were tree trunks, branches without leaves and a bone-white sky above her head. There were none of those menacing figures that she'd encountered before. Carefully, she eased the flap of towel away from her newborn son's face. He was unscathed by the inferno. Sleeping untroubled, his lips were a healthy pink, while his hands, bunched up near his face, twitched a little as he dreamt of… of what? This world? His prophesized destiny? Healer of its monsterized inhabitants?

    With her legs weak and trembly now, she made it to a fallen log and sat down. Seconds later she watched as Ellery lightly stepped through the twist of fog in the clearing. He was followed by Noel, who slipped and dropped to one knee before pulling himself to his feet. Noel's face was dark. The man was troubled and perplexed by this strange world of gray dripping trees. On the other hand, Ellery appeared calm, relaxed even, as if he'd stepped into a reassuringly familiar environment.

    Noel came up fast, his eyes radiating concern. ”Robyn. You okay? The baby…”

    ”We're both fine.”

    Ellery glanced around. ”We're alone. We haven't been seen yet.”

    A tingle of astonishment ran through her exhausted body. Ellery spoke without hesitation, or even a suggestion of a stammer. His words possessed a silvery clarity that she'd not heard from him before. ”This is where you want to be, isn't it, Ellery?”

    ”This is the way that leads to it.”He smiled. ”Beyond the wood there's a town on a hill.”

    ”Home?”she asked.

    His smile broadened. ”Home,”he agreed. Once more secret understanding seemed to pass between them as they looked at each other.

    Noel sounded prickly. ”We can't stay here long. For one, we need to get you to a hospital. You should get checked out by a doctor”

    ”I feel fine.”

    ”You've just given birth, Robyn. You need a medical examination. And then there's the baby. He will need feeding.”

    Ellery shook his head. ”Not here. I don't know how it works, but all the nourishment we need is in the air… in the fabric of the world. It will feed us.”

    ”It heals, too,”Robyn said. She repositioned the baby in her arm so she could rub her stomach with her free hand. ”I can feel it… it's repairing the damage caused by the birth… one hell of a fast birth,”she added with feeling.

    ”What now?”Noel asked.

    ”Wait for Benedict and Nathaniel.”

    ”But wait with caution,”Ellery said, glancing about him. ”They might already know we're here.”

    Ellery didn't need to specify ”they, Robyn didn't doubt that the occupants of this gray world would not delay in finding them.

    

    

    Logan leapt over clumps of fire on the boards. By this time the stage timbers were alight. Fires snapped and popped all around him. The smoke was blinding. Holding the submachine gun in both hands, he dropped from the stage onto the dance floor. Golden sparks fell like burning snowflakes. Logan ran through swathes of smoke, hunting down Hann and his cronies, only the place was deserted. Maybe another door exited to the parking lot? If so, where the hell was it?

    His eyes smarted as he scanned the walls, searching for an open door that would mock his failure to catch Hann. No door. No window. So how could they escape the Luxor? He doubled back through blinding fumes toward the stage. He couldn't stay here; the atmosphere was choking.

    Clumps of black smoke haunted the dance floor like ghosts. He tried to avoid their toxic presence by dodging between them. And when he found himself confronted by a patch of gray vapor, he figured it would be less poisonous than its dark siblings, so he chanced dashing straight through the heart of it, determined to reach the backstage area that was, for present, free of fire.

    The world pulsed around him. Fiery atmosphere vanished, to be replaced by a cool wash of backwoods air. Beneath his running feet the floor softened into mush. He skidded, regained his balance, and ran into a world very different from the one he'd known before.

    

    

    Robyn blinked as the scruffy guy in a combat jacket tumbled forward through the halo of mist. He recovered his balance. That's when she saw the submachine gun in his hand.

    Ellery breathed in sharply, shocked by the man's sudden appearance.

    The gun, the thuggish appearance, the angry light in his eye-none of it reassured Robyn either. Beside her Noel moved smoothly to his feet and aimed the gun.

    But the guy was fast. Recovering from the transition to this world of gray trees beneath a bone-white sky, he jerked the muzzle up, pointing it at the three of them.

    ”Throw it away, buddy,”the man warned. ”This pumps out ten rounds in the time it takes you to sneeze.”

    Noel hesitated.

    The guy continued, ”It won't just be you, your wife and kid'll get blasted, too.”

    Noel foresaw the outcome of a Shootout all too vividly. He dropped the gun onto the ground, where it fell with a soft thud.

    ”Kick it over here, buddy”

    Noel obeyed. The thug-guy picked up the revolver, shoved it into his belt. He nodded at Ellery.

    ”Eh-Eh-Ellery How ya doin'?”

    Robyn saw Ellery wince at the man's cruel mimicry of the stammer.

    ”Yo, Stutter Monkey. Aren't you going to introduce me to your amigos?”

    Ellery said, ”These are my friends, Robyn and Noel. This is their son.”

    ”Got a baby here in funland? What's his name?”

    ”He doesn't have a name yet.”Robyn spoke forcefully annoyed at being held at gunpoint by this no-mark jerk.

    ”The baby with no name,”the guy mused. ”Hey, Ellery. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends? You ignorant or something?”

    ”This is Logan,”Ellery said. ”We went to the same school. Logan made it his duty to bully me whenever he could.”

    ”Bully? Me? Shit! I was teaching you life lessons, bud.”Then something occurred to the man. ”Hey, Ellery? What happened to the stutter?”

    Ellery didn't answer. Instead: ”Let my friends go. They've got no argument with you.”

    ”Hey listen. I tell you who I do or don't have arguments with. Got that, Stutter Monkey?”

    Robyn noticed that the vastness of the silent forest distracted Logan from getting angry with Ellery-at least for the moment.

    He kept the gun leveled at them, but his head turned this way then the other, taking in the sight of all those dripping trees. He frowned.

    ”What happened, people?”he asked. ”How did we get here?”

    ”Through the Luxor. There's a route into this world.”Ellery nodded at the halo of mist hovering just above the leaf rug. ”That's the doorway”

    ”No, kidding. Yeah…”Logan grinned. This pleased him. ”It's cool. What a freakin' dance floor. You can dance from world to world!”The smile vanished as his eyes widened in surprise. ”Hey Ellery I know this place!” He shook his head, trying to work it out. ”I don't know why I know it, but I do. Like I've been here before, you know?”