Season of Passage, The (37 page)

red shorts and nothing else. His muscles looked remarkably tan and supple considering that he hadn't exercised in the sun in months.

'Can't sleep?' he asked.

'That's a stupid question.' She sat up against the wal and tucked her bent knees under her T-shirt. Her bare breasts touched her thighs.

'Wil I wake Jessie talking?' Gary asked.

'She'l stay asleep,' Lauren said sarcastical y.

'She suspects nothing?'

'Not even that you tried to shoot her husband in the back a couple of hours ago.'

Gary tightened his fists. 'Are you glad I failed?'

'I don't know.'

'Wel , listen to this. The other lasers are overloaded, too. Coincidence? Thank God we stil have the one at the Karamazov.'

Lauren coughed with a dry throat. She was beginning to believe she would give her life for a glass of water. 'I was just thinking of Jim,' she said.

'How wise he was. How much he saw that none of us could see. He never tried to do what you did today.'

Gary was hurt. 'I know I'm not Jim. But the situation was different yesterday. He had a theory. He was trying to gather information. He didn't have the

proof we have. No one was dead then.'

"The autopsy showed it was his heart,' Lauren said.

'You believe that?'

Lauren sniffed. 'I don't know.'

'I remember once when Jim and I were sitting alone together in his room in the isolation complex,' Gary said. 'A moth began to buzz around his

lamp, and I started to swat it, but he stopped me. He said to open the window and let it out. Sure, I thought. We were in quarantine. Those windows

couldn't be opened without taking out a half dozen screws. But you know what he did when I told him that? He went to the kitchen and got a knife

and undid the entire window. Just to save a moth's life.' Gary shook his head. 'I don't think Jim could have shot a rattlesnake if it was ready to bite

him.'

'He was very brave,' Lauren said, thinking that Bil had said the same thing. She noticed that Gary had a new book with him. It made her mad. 'Oh,

and I see you've got fresh reading material. I don't know where you find the time, what with al the funerals we've been having lately. What is it this

time? The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Gary held up the book. Dracula.

'What are you reading, Jenny?'

'Nothing. Just something I found at the library.'

'And it's a secret?'

'It's a love story.'

Lauren felt miserably depressed. Nothing was sacred anymore. Not even young girls with golden hair and blue

eyes. 'I didn't know you had a copy, too,' she said.

That startled Gary. 'Too? does Bil have this book?'

'No. Jenny was reading Dracula before I left. She was real y into it, but I burned it before she could finish it.' Anger rose inside Lauren. 'I burned it

because it's garbage. How can a story help us now? You and your Martian Chronicles and your lost expeditions. You hear those footsteps? He's

right above us!'

I said it. I confessed my faith. Am I a believer now?

Gary nodded gravely. 'You're right, I know these stories are bul shit. But what about the stuff that inspired the authors to write the stories? Some of

that stuff could be true.'

'What stuff?'

'Jim mentioned ghost stories. I've read some fairly reliable cases about people who've drunk blood and had supernormal strength.'

'In the Enquirer?' Lauren asked dryly.

'No. In sensible books written by sensible people. Get off your high horse and open your mind. Weird stuff is going on around us left and right. We

can't just close our eyes and say we're astronauts and NASA wil take care of everything.'

'You can't possibly be talking about vampires?'

Gary paused. He blinked. 'I think I am.'

Lauren chuckled. 'Bil can stand the sun.'

Gary leaned forward, intense. 'I don't think he likes it. At the funeral, he kept his back to it. Plus we're on Mars. The sun's a lot brighter on Earth.'

'There are no vampires on Earth.'

'What about on Mars?'

She gestured to his book. 'That story was written on Earth. You've got a gap of mil ions of miles to account for before you start making sense. And

you're not going to

make sense as long as you keep talking about vampires.'

'Cal them what you want,' Gary snapped. 'AH right, they're not vampires, but they're like vampires. Let's cal them Martians. How do we kil these

Martians? That's al I care about.'

'I don't think that book's going to give you any ideas.' 'There's a pattern here. How can you deny it?' 'What pattern? Dracula was a count who lived in

Transylvania. Bram Stoker was a writer who lived in Ireland. We're on Mars, Gary!'

'You said that already. What about the blood beside Ivan's bed? What about his abnormal strength?' 'I never actual y saw Ivan drinking the blood.'

'He would have chewed on your neck had you given him half a chance,' Gary said. He sat for a moment. 'Perhaps something in the distant past

inspired these legends. I'm reminded of Jim's cavern under the Himalayas. We may not be the first civilization on our world capable of space flight.

There could have been a people here, too. There could have been an interaction between us and them, and they could have been real nasty

bloodsuckers. The stories we're talking about could have arisen from then. Quit laughing! Lots of myths have been found to be based on historical

fact.'

'You have been reading the Enquirer.' She waved him away with her hand, tasting the salt that crusted her lips. 'I'm tired of arguing about this. If

you've got garlic, I'l be glad to keep it by my bed.' 'I don't have any,' Gary said seriously. She spoke wearily. 'What else does your monster bible

suggest?'

Gary studied the novel. 'Most of this you'l know from TV. First Dr Van Helsing prescribes driving a stake through the heart of the vampire.'

'Bil won't go for that.'

'Or driving the vampire off with a communion wafer or holy water.'

'We should have brought a priest with us.'

'Or using a cross. Jesus, Lori, we can make a cross. Listen to me! Our souls are in danger.'

'A cross is just a symbol. Doesn't Van Helsing say that as wel ? If I remember correctly, he was big on faith. A cross won't work for us. Neither of us

is a Christian.'

Gary protested, 'I was baptized.'

'So was I. Who gives a fuck? I'm sure Martian Bil doesn't.'

'I believe in God,' Gary said. 'How else can you explain people like Jim? He went down there, knowing the danger. He died trying to save us.' Gary

paused, and asked in a worried voice, 'You don't think he's going to rise, do you?'

She smiled painful y. 'No, I cut out his heart in the autopsy. It's in a bottle in the basement. Even a vampire needs his heart.'

Gary considered. 'You may have a point about traditional symbols failing us. There was a cross on the cover of Jessie's Bible and Bil didn't bat an

eye.'

'Oh, that was a great pun. Thank you. Thank you very much. That's just what I needed.'

'Shut up,' Gary said. 'There may be a weapon vampires and Martians can't withstand. One that doesn't have anything to do with belief or disbelief.'

'What?' Lauren asked.

'Fire.'

I see you brought the fire.

There was a ring of truth to what Gary was saying. In fact it rang perfectly wel with the voices in her head. She didn't know whether that was good or

bad, yet his remark made her heart race.

'I'm al in favor of getting the other laser,' she said. 'If we get the chance. But you know we can't use it against Bil inside the ship.

Gary nodded. 'That's two problems right there. But I have a plan. Bil said he wanted to take Jessie with him tomorrow.'

'He might take us al ,' Lauren interrupted.

'I think he can only handle one at a time. Don't ask me why. He seems to have lost his inhibitions about his wife.'

'With his super strength, he could kil us al .'

'So you do believe he's strong?'

'I just don't want to get in a fight with him.'

'He doesn't want to kil us,' Gary said.

'Oh, yeah? He needs to fil out his vampire family. Why doesn't he destroy the other laser? Surely he suspects we didn't lose it.'

'He knows if he leaves the ship, I'l take off. He's clever. He doesn't go outside without taking insurance with him. But this time he's not going to cash

in.'

'What are you going to do?' Lauren asked.

'This planet murdered my best friend. It's going to pay. It's going to burn. Fire's got to kil these bastards, and their heart has to be down in that pit

where Bil wants everyone to go. We have a nuclear bomb in the basement. I'm going to drag it down there and set it off and flush the devils out.'

'You'd be kil ed.'

'No. When Jim gave us the code, he said the warhead could be triggered manual y, and that it had a timer in it.'

'Bil wil stop you,' Lauren said.

'He isn't going to be here.'

'You can't set it while he's gone with Jessie.'

'I don't intend to. I'm going to take the bomb down there after he returns with Jessie. We'l retrieve the laser from the

Karamazov, and then I'l wait outside the Hawk and greet both of them with the hole in the chest.'

'You'd kil her?' Lauren gasped.

'She'l already be dead.'

'I won't let you do that.'

'Then he'l take us one by one! Don't you see, he hits us where we're weakest. Jim knew the danger, but he hesitated because he couldn't conceive

of kil ing a friend. But if we don't kil them then one of us wil be taken down there, and then the other. We'l both be turned into Ivan clones. We'l

return home and look just fine to everybody else. Except at night we'l go out and suck on people's throats until the whole goddamn world is one

walking corpse.'

'Stop it!' Lauren cried

'No! Think of the consequences. You don't need to kil them. I'l do it.'

Lauren looked away. "There must be another way.'

'There isn't.'

'We should get Jessie off drugs, tel her what's going on.'

Gary snickered. 'Right. We'l tel her we have to blow away her husband. Maybe we can get her to hold him stil for the shot. Give me a break.'

Lauren had an idea. 'The boat.'

'Huh?'

'The boat we made out of the jeep. Hummingbird isn't the only way to the island. You remember? Jim insisted we tow it back and anchor it on the

canal beneath the end of the cave. There's another way, Gary. We'l let them go tomorrow, and then we'l retrieve the laser and fol ow them.'

'We'd be hours behind,' Gary said. 'We'd be too late. Jessie won't be able to hold out.'

'Jim did.'

'Jim's dead.'

'We have to try,' Lauren said. 'We have to give her that chance.'

'No. By the time we reached the island, there'd be two monsters. They'd creep up on us in the dark. We wouldn't come back human.'

Lauren got up and stepped to Jessica's bed. She fixed the blankets about Jessica's shoulders. Jessica slept on.

'Is her one life less precious than ten lives?' Lauren asked, looking down at her friend's face. 'Than a hundred? What would Jim have said?' Lauren

stroked Jessica's hand. 'We've lost Jim, we've lost Bil . And now we're sending her down there ignorant. We've got to give her a chance.'

'I don't like it.'

Lauren came back and sat on the bed beside him. She spoke firmly. 'We'l take the boat. We'l do the best we can. At least we wil have tried.'

Gary sighed. 'OK, Doc. But I'm going alone. I have enough on my conscience already, the way I let Jim die.'

'We're going together.'

'No way. It's me alone. That's an order.'

'I don't give a shit about your orders. I have to go.' She glanced at the ceiling, in the direction of the heavy footsteps. 'If you come back like him, I'd

just as soon die. Besides, it wil take two to paddle the boat.'

Gary put a strong arm around her. 'I can never win an argument with you.' He added, 'I hope the warhead doesn't sink the boat.'

'Don't take it. It wil just slow us down. The next expedition can incinerate the place.'

'If I have my way, there won't be a next expedition. This planet's going to pay now. It's going to burn.'

Lauren felt tears in her eyes. 'God,' she whispered.

'Lori?'

'I was just thinking how we'l be leaving Jim here.' The grief broke inside her at last and she began to sob against his chest. 'Remember the time I

discovered his cookies, Gary? I think he was eating them while we were fasting at the isolation complex. He liked sweets. He liked coffee, too, and

I wouldn't even make it for him.'

Gary spoke softly. 'But you did make it for him. It was wonderful coffee. He loved it. He loved you.'

She wiped at her face. 'I'm going to miss him so much.' She put her arms around him. 'Hold me, Gary. Please hold me.'

They stayed in each other's arms as the night slowly passed. But Lauren didn't sleep. She didn't have to. Her nightmare was final y awake. She lay

beside Gary with her scalpel in her hand until the sun came up, listening to the footsteps overhead.

At the charred remains of Jennifer's private cabin, Terry Hayes knelt and col ected wood for his fireplace. It was dark and snowing, and he was

cold. He thought it would not be long before the snow covered the ashes left over from the fire, as it had probably already covered Jennifer's freshly

dug grave. From identifying her remains, he knew ashes of her body must lie scattered in the wood ashes al around him. He had changed his mind

about flowers. He decided that later he would bring some here and plant them. In another season, when it was warm, he thought they might bloom.

Terry bundled his wood together and walked to his cabin. It was pitch black inside but he made no effort to find the light switch. He went