The Hole (25 page)

“Yeah,” Evajean said. “I wish I knew what we’ve gotten ourselves into.”

“I don’t think
we
got ourselves into anything. Something got
us
.”

Then Evajean screamed. “Elliot! Look out!” She was staring out her window and, as Elliot jerked the wheel, startled, he saw two more of those creatures, the tubular beats with the enormous faces, charging across the empty field to the east toward them.

“Goddamn,” he said, and pushed his foot down on the gas, hard. The truck coughed and lurched forward. The creatures closed, their arc taking them onto the road behind Elliot and Evajean.

These were smaller than the first two had been, only a few feet taller than the cab of the truck, and slower, but they had no trouble at all keeping pace.

We need to find some place to hide
, Elliot thought.
The overpass trick isn’t going to work on these.
 

“There!” Evajean shouted. Coming up was an exit leading to a small truck stop town. What had caught her attention was a modest church made of stone. They could hide in there.

Again Elliot thought of Nahom. But those creatures weren’t the crazies, just animals. They wouldn’t be able to open the doors and were too big to come in through the windows. Inside, he and Evajean could wait them out.

He took the exit, the creatures perhaps twenty yards behind. The truck bounced through the curve, rocking as he brought it straight again. The church was close, and he knew they could make it.

“We’re going to have to run,” he said. “Be ready.”

Evajean nodded.

Elliot braced himself, then hit the breaks hard. The truck shuddered and slowed, coming to a stop just in from of the church’s huge wooden doors.

“Go!” he shouted, jumping out. Evajean followed, clutching Hope to her chest. They ran, crossing the dozen feet to the entrance.

And found it locked.

The creatures had stopped at the truck, sniffing the contents in the back, their flat faces pressed fully into the barrels and boxes. Elliot could see them inhaling, ridges sliding along the surface of their bodies. He turned to Evajean.

“Around back. There has to be another way in.”

There was. A side entrance, white paint peeling around the door’s tiny window, stood open a few inches. Elliot leaned his head to the crack, but Evajean pushed it open and ran past him, struggling with Hope in her arms. Elliot followed.

They were in a small office, dark but for a bit of light coming through a stained glass window against the back wall. Elliot thought briefly of Nahom, but pushed it away. He turned and pulled the door shut, twisting the deadbolt into place. The room felt solid and safe.

“I think this’ll be okay,” he said to Evajean. She leaned against the desk and set Hope down. The dog yipped and this started sniffing around her feet.

She nodded. “This is probably best,” she said.

“Waiting them out?”

“You think they’ll leave? I mean, how long do you think it’ll take?”

Elliot shrugged. “They’re animals,” he said.

“Yeah,” Evajean said. “Guess we’ll just have to see.” She pushed off the desk and stood up. “We should look around-if we’re gonna be here a while.”

“Sure,” Elliot said. He was thinking about the truck, about all their food and supplies back there and how much trouble they’d be in if the creatures destroyed all that or somehow disabled the vehicle.

Another door was set into the opposite wall. Evajean opened it and peered out. Then she pulled her head back and looked at him. “There’s light,” she said. “Candles, I think.”

“Is someone-”

“Who’s there?” The voice was strong but muffled by the barely open door. Evajean jumped back. Hope darted through the opening, nudging it wider with his nose until he could fit.

“Who-” the voice said again, then gasped. “A dog? Is that- How did you get in here, puppy?” They could hear Hope’s excited barking.

“I think it’s okay,” Elliot whispered to Evajean and she nodded. “I’m gonna go out,” he said.

He pulled the door open, letting more of the candle light into the office, and stepped through. Evajean was close behind. Several dozen candles were setup up along the rows of pews, with more clustered on the small alter at the church’s front. Standing near this, bent down and scratching Hope behind the ears, was a fat man in jeans and a greet t-shirt. His sweaty face reflected back the orange light.

Hope turned to look at Elliot and Evajean and the man stood up quickly, his eyes wide. “I don’t have anything,” he said, holding up his hands.

“It’s okay,” Evajean said, taking a step closer.

The man backed up. “I don’t have anything and, besides, this is a church. You can’t go and hurt someone in a church.”

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Elliot said.

“We’re only hiding,” Evajean said. “Just until those things outside go away.”

“What things?” The man said, his hands still up. Then he moaned. “Oh, god, are there more of them? Are they back?”

“Those big creatures, the ones with the flat faces, if that’s what you mean-yeah, they’re back. They chased us in here. We don’t want to hurt you and we don’t want to take anything. We have a truck outside and are just going to wait in here until its safe to go out and get to it, get outside and drive away.”

The man’s arms had slowly come down while Elliot was talking and now he sat down against the alter, reaching out again for Hope. “This your dog?” he said.

“Hope,” Evajean said. “That’s Hope.”

“She looks like a good dog,” the man said.

“He is,” Evajean said. “A very good dog.” She walked half the distance toward him and, when he didn’t react, crossed the remainder. She sat down across from him, scratching one side of Hope’s head while he scratched the other. “It’s okay with you, then? If we stay here?”

“Oh, sure,” the man said. “Sorry about that. I don’t mean to be all riled up, but it’s just that it’s been a while since I- God, it’s been a while since I saw
anyone
.”

“Us too,” Evajean said, and Elliot was glad she didn’t mention Nahom or the crazies. There’d be time for that later, but now he just wanted to know who this man was. What were the chances, Elliot thought, of running into another seemingly normal person in the one random spot they get chased to?

“I’m Elliot Bishop,” Elliot said, walking over and holding out his hand.

The man stood up and took it, his grip tentative at first, but then firm. “Melvin Werner,” he said. He turned to Evajean.

“Evajean Rhodes,” she said, and the two of them shook hands as well.

“Evajean,” the Melvin said. “And Elliot, and Hope. Like I said, you all are the first people I’ve seen in what has to be a few months at least.”

“You’ve been here all that time?” Elliot asked.

“Mostly. My car broke down not far from here and this is where I kind of just ended up. Got a grocery store with plenty of food a quarter mile up the road, but it’s here I’ve been all the rest of the time. I’m a church man, you know? Feels best when I’m in a place like this.”

“Those things outside,” Evajean said, “the creatures, have you seen them a lot?”

Melvin swallowed. “I have. Rather more than I’d like to, in fact. That’s another reason I’ve been staying here instead of the store. I like the stone between me and them.”

Elliot understood that. It’s why he and Evajean had fled to the church as well.

“But if you just wait, give them time, they’ll leave. Didn’t catch how many there were, I recall.”

“Now? Just the two,” Elliot said. Evajean had picked up Hope and was turning slowly, looking around the interior of the church.

“See, the thing I’ve noticed,” Melvin said, “is they stick around longer the more of them there is. Just one and you can bet it’ll get board of sniffing at the walls and head off somewhere in a few hours. Two tends to be half a day at least. One time there were four of the things and I was in here three damn days before they left. Got low on food and water, too.”

“So it’ll be half a day for this pair?”

“That’s been my experience,” Melvin said. He took a step back to address both Elliot and Evajean. “Now, you all hungry? Can I get you something to eat. And I truly am sorry about the way I behaved just before. Wasn’t very welcoming of me at all. Like I said, it’s been a while since I’ve seen anybody and it was rather a shock to have you two suddenly standing right there.”

Neither of them was hungry, but Evajean took him up on the offer, playing the gracious house guest while Elliot took a look around. The church was tiny, only big enough for maybe eighty people to fit comfortably on the pews, and Melvin had placed nearly half that many candles throughout. They failed to fill the place with light, but they gave enough illumination that what shadows there were didn’t feel threatening. The thick stained glass kept out the majority of the sun.

Outside, Elliot could still hear the creatures milling about. Occasionally one would wander past a window, a blurred shape, huge and menacing, and once the double doors thudded and shook, but Melvin was right: the church felt solid and safe.

Melvin had gone into another room, opposite the office to them all something to eat and Evajean was in front of the alter, looking at the tapestries that hung over it.

Elliot let out a long breath. He didn’t trust Melvin, not after everything they’d been through since leaving Virginia, but he felt his guard slipping, and then let it disappear entirely as the rich smell of brewing coffee drifted through the old church.

The doors thumped again. Melvin stuck his head out, looking at them, then at Elliot. “Oh, it’s pretty safe. They’ll bang away for fifteen minutes then get tired of it. I wonder if it hurts them, kicking it or ramming it or whatever it is they do out there? Anyway, the doors have held up nicely every other time-no reason to think they’ll give out now.” He disappeared back into the side room.

Elliot rolled his eyes slowly, shaking his head. They’d held up nicely. That was good to hear.

And they did hold up. Melvin returned shortly from the other room, Evajean following behind. She had a cup of coffee in each hand, and Melvin has the same in his right, but in his left hung a beige grocery bag, which he set down on a pew. Elliot took a coffee from Evajean while Melvin opened it.

“Now,” Melvin said, holding up the food, “it’s not the best to go with coffee, especially
good
coffee like this-which is from Whole Foods and had only been in the back of my car for a little while-but it’ll have to do. Which kind do you want?” He had Twinkies and Hostess Cupcakes and Elliot didn’t care which because they both looked wonderful. Days of apples and jerky and oatmeal had him craving sweets.

Elliot grabbed a Twinkie and pulled open the packaging. He took a sip of the coffee-which was quite good-and then took a bite. It made him feel like he was home again, like this all hadn’t really happened and it was Sunday morning, early and relaxed. He sat down and finished the food and drink to the sounds of the creatures still milling around outside. An hour later, the creatures were still there, though their banging at the doors and walls of the church had become less constant and enthusiastic. Evajean had gone to sleep on a pew and Melvin was sitting with a book he’d found in the small side office. Elliot tried to nap, but sleep wouldn’t come, and so he paced, looking over the contents of the church, sometimes looking through the stained glass at the huge shapes wandering by. Eventually, Evajean got up and fed Hope. The dog finished its food and lay down next to her. She smiled at Elliot and he smiled back. He didn’t know how long they’d have to wait here, but the waiting wasn’t bad.

He and Evajean were leaning against the alter, chatting about times before the plague, when Melvin returned from one of his trips to the office for books and walked over to them.

“Do you have it?” he asked. “I know you do because I saw it. In the dream. I saw it and this very moment, the two of you standing right there and that dog- Can I see it?” Melvin was trembling with excitement. He’d left a pile of books on the floor behind him and now stood, hugging himself, while he asked his questions.

Elliot looked at Evajean. He face had gone tight, her lips pressed into a line. She held Hope to her chest, and the dog began growling low in its throat. The calm of a moment ago was gone.

He turned back to Melvin. “See what?”

“The box. The one you have with you. I know you have it. The dreams, over and over again, they’re telling me that you have it and that I need to see it. I just have to.”

“Do you know what it is?” Elliot asked. Evajean still had the box in her coat pocket, but he wasn’t going to tell Melvin that, not yet.

“It’s a message. A powerful message for the two of you, but only I can tell you how to read it. Don’t you see? This all was
planned
. All of it.” He was glancing back and forth rapidly between the two of them, his eyes watery. “I can tell you how to read it,” he said.

“Then do it,” Evajean said, startling Elliot. He turned to see her taking the brass box out of her pocket. She held it out to Melvin. Elliot wanted to stop her, to slap her hand down, to keep the box away from this suddenly strange man. But he couldn’t, because what choice did they have? It was useless to them as is, unless Evajean could make it glow again. Then they might use it as a weapon, but right now the box was just a container full of pages of gibberish.

“Ahh.” Melvin’s hands shook as he reached for the box. Evajean let him take it and Melvin pulled it close to his face, running his fingers along the surface. He backed up and sat down in the first row. “This- It’s exactly like in the dreams. I knew it would be, of course, but to actually see it… I can’t believe you came.”

“What is it?” Evajean asked.

“I believe it’s your guide,” he said. “Can you show me how to open it?”

Evajean did and Melvin flipped the pages with wonder. “I can read this,” he said. “Just like the dreams told me I could, I can read it.”

“What language is it?”

“Oh, it’s something close to Egyptian. Did I mention that? I studied antiquities for a long time, got my doctorate in it, in fact. It was my job for many years to read the inscriptions on artifacts the museum brought in and, now, here’s another one. But it’s not exactly Egyptian, no. It’s different. The letters aren’t at all the same. But I just
know
it’s a similar language.”