“Get the sheriff,” she heard the man from the audit truck command again to his elder counterpart, and when Allie saw Ramon being pulled from the cruiser and marched forward toward his execution, the fire of her convictions re-ignited, and she cleared her mind and cocked her weapon. A second later, she emerged from the shrubs and into the roadway like an ambushing jaguar.
Allie assumed there were weapons somewhere at the scene, but she’d yet to see one being brandished, so she walked straight ahead with alacrity, her weapon pointed at the back of the older man who was still shoving Ramon toward the sinkhole. She kept her gaze down, averting her eyes from the monsters hovering just beyond, their bodies like the glossy air above a hot grill. Instead, she focused on the assailant and called out, “Let him go! Now! And put your fucking hands as high as they can reach!”
The man didn’t turn toward Allie, but he clearly sensed the gun on him, and he released Ramon and raised his hands as instructed.
From the corner of Allie’s eye, she saw Zander make a move toward the truck, and she shifted her gun in his direction. “You move another inch and you’ve got two rounds in your head a second later. Got that?”
The man froze and raised his hands as well, and as he gave a single nod of understanding, Allie thought she detected a grin appear on his face.
Ramon turned slowly toward Allie and shook his head.
“How’d you let this happen, boss?”
“Dammit, Allie, I told you to go.”
“Yeah, I can see you have everything under control, Sheriff, but, you know, I thought I’d help out anyway. You’re welcome.”
“Where are the kids?”
“They’re all on the way to Simonson,” she lied, the words suddenly sounding as if they’d been spoken in a dream. “Just like you...”
Allie suddenly lost the ability to speak, her brain no longer signaling the words to her mouth; her thoughts, normally like drifting clouds in her mind, felt as if they were now swirling in a vacuum.
“Don’t let it get inside you, Allie. Keep your mind clear. I don’t know how, but...”
Allie never heard the rest of Ramon’s sentence, and her mind was now fully into the movie of her life, with thoughts and memories sparking in her brain like flint. The last sound she heard from the outside world was of her pistol hitting the street.
In what might have been several minutes but was likely only seconds, the spinning reel in her head reached its end, and Allie suddenly heard a voice in her head, questioning, the tone demanding and cruel.
Tell me your evil.
Like the primal instincts of earliest man, Allie reacted to the danger, and she instantly brought the request to the front of her mind. There was perhaps a second of hesitation as she gathered the story in her mind, and then she spoke the truth of that day on the yacht as if she were telling it to a priest.
“I didn’t really know her that well,” Allie began. “Cassidy and I met maybe a week before at a party. I was a freshman and she was a junior. And she was funny and beautiful, and I was impressionable, so, when she invited me to come along with her and a couple guys she knew, one of which had a boat, what was I going to say? She seemed like the kind of girl who was on a boat every weekend, and I wanted to be a part of that world. I guess I had a girl crush.”
Allie’s face was stoical, at ease, and though her thoughts weren’t exactly her own, she knew she was safe in that moment, on the path to redemption.
“Cassidy was sunbathing nude on the stern that day, which I didn’t know until I came from the bow and saw her there. I kind of froze and just stared at her. I don’t think I’d ever even seen another naked woman before, not in the flesh anyway, and certainly not someone who looked like she did. She was so carefree. I just wanted to be near her.” Allie paused. “But I also didn’t want to embarrass her. Or myself. So, I just stood there staring at her. And, out of nowhere, Cody appeared. I guess they were in the cabin below, but suddenly he was just standing above her, hovering there, and Cassidy didn’t even make a move to cover herself or anything. Cody was questioning her about something; I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could see she was kind of shaking him off, laughing but also kind of annoyed, like she just wanted to be left alone. It was late in the day by then, and everyone had been swimming and drinking and now everyone was kind of winding down.” A tear began to streak down Allie’s cheek. “But Cody and Mark had other ideas.”
Allie felt the full thrust of her sin now—the personal crime which she’d hid in the deepest part of her conscience for nearly two decades—and for the first time in her life, she began to weep openly about her part in the assault of Cassidy Mayes.
“I heard her screaming outside the door, and I knew what was happening, but I didn’t do anything to stop it. I wanted to—God, I wanted to be that brave—but I wasn’t. I’m not. I’m scared. I’m scared all the time. Then and now.” Allie paused again. “I believed they would kill me if they knew I had heard, and certainly if I tried to stop them. I really did believe that. They couldn’t have two witnesses. One girl’s claims were tough to prove, but if I was a witness, if I could testify to what I’d heard, that would have changed everything. And if I had tried to physically stop them...” She paused. “So, I turned away. I just walked back to the bow of the ship like the coward that I was. And I just stared out at the sea and cried, knowing my life would never be the same after that day. Cassidy was ruined, and so was I. Afterwards, when it was over and they were coming up from the cabin, I pretended to be asleep. And then when we got back to shore, I waited for Cassidy to tell me what had happened, but she never said a word. She just got in her car and left. Sped off in her little VW bug, and it was the last time I ever saw her.”
Allie let the final emotions of the experience run through her, and then she opened her eyes and stared at the beasts, defiantly now, daring them to question her sincerity, to find something she held in her heart that was darker than the story she’d just told. And when she felt her mind break free of the grip and belong to her again, she knew she was safe.
Except that wasn’t entirely true.
In the real world, beyond the hold of the creatures, the man who had surrendered to Allie moments earlier now faced her, a semi-automatic rifle in his hands.
“Congratulations, Deputy Nyler,” the leader said, his face a mask of gleeful surprise, prideful even. “The Arali seem pleased with the authenticity of your sins. That is a rarity.”
“But it’s not enough, is it?” Allie replied, now understanding her fate rested beyond the creatures and was, in fact, in the hands of these fanatics. “You’re going to kill us anyway?” Allie looked down to her pistol which was on the ground, several feet in front of her. She contemplated a move, but she had no chance of reaching the weapon with an AR-15 pointed at her head. “What do you get out of this?”
Zander smiled and turned his head slightly, as if giving the question some earnest thought. “I will be here long after your youngest niece or nephew has grown old and died. And had you lived beyond this day, that reward would have been yours as well.”
Allie shook her head, confused. “What are you saying?”
Zander shrugged. “You have been blessed with this unique experience, deputy. The Arali bring quite profound destruction wherever they surface. In a very short span of time. But for those fortunate enough to exist in the place and time of their arrival, and then to possess the strength to feed them that which they desire, life’s greatest reward can be realized. And it is yours now, if only for a few moments longer.”
Allie fought to doubt the man’s words, to dismiss them as the rantings of a lunatic; but that she was standing in front of these three demons—and had listened to their voices in her mind, craving her darkness—she had no choice but to accept his assertions as true. Which meant that though she may never learn the truth for herself, Josh one day might, having reached the threshold of his sins and was now currently trekking down Interstate 91.
“And soon
, others will have the opportunity as well.”
Allie felt her heart seize at the menacing words. “What does that mean?” she choked out.
Zander smiled. “The Arali have more collections to make.”
“What?”
“This town,” Zander said, extending his hand as if introducing Garmella for the first time, “it is far too small to satiate them. As perhaps is Simonson.”
“What are you saying?”
“When they are done here, they will move on this time. I know it for certain now.” Zander stared at the sky, smiling. “It is well past solar noon, and yet here they remain.” And then, “I can’t know it for sure, but perhaps the Arali are here to stay. Perhaps forever this time.”
“You have to stop them,” Allie said, at which point the man beside her kicked her at the top of her left thigh, bringing her to her knees. Allie dropped to the street in a grunt.
“Allie!” Ramon called, unleashing a scream as loud as he could remember, holding his deputy’s name on his vocal cords until they burned.
And as the shout resonated through the desert air, the Arali, who were fewer than thirty yards from Ramon, began to writhe and twitch for a moment, shifting erratically like the movement of flipbook animation. Zander shuddered reflexively and as he stared up at the demons, his face a veil of concern.
Ramon caught the look and turned back to Allie, and then he screamed her name again, even louder this time, ending it with a piercing, high-pitched coda. The creatures reacted with similar unease, and Ramon knew Allie had been right about the sounds.
“Stop!” Zander said softly, putting his hands in front of him as if hoping to bring order back to the scene that he’d controlled so well a minute ago.
“Scream, Allie!” Ramon yelled to his deputy. “Scream as loud as you can!” Ramon looked back to Zander. “Loud noises are like poison to them. You know that, don’t you? That’s why your man isn’t going to shoot anyone. You’re afraid it will hurt them. You’re afraid they’ll leave.”
Zander turned toward Allie, who had picked up where Ramon left off and was now shouting at the Arali as if she were trying to scare off a grizzly. The Arali continued their sways of pain, but as effective as the play seemed at first, Allie noted how their distress was already showing a bit less vigor and animation.
“Don’t test me, Sheriff,” Zander warned, but his eyes were searching frantically now, bouncing back and forth from the Arali to Allie and back to Ramon.
“But I bet there’s one thing you didn’t figure out about these things,” Ramon continued.
Zander turned to Ramon now, his eyes wide, daring him to describe something he hadn’t already thought of.
“Allie don’t stop!” Ramon ordered, and then he turned back to Zander, emboldened with his secret. “You think these things are in Garmella because of the telescope, don’t you? You think they’re somehow attracted to signals from space or something?”
Zander said nothing, revealing his answer.
“But your wrong. They’re here—in Garmella—because it’s quiet. Just like every other town with a radio telescope. That’s how you knew, right? That’s how you knew they were coming? Probably mapped out the places where these things have been before and tracked them here?”
“It is the telescope.”
“No. Winston Bell knew it too. He just went along with the theory because of the prize you offered him. His interference was useless, unnecessary.
“That’s not true.”
Ramon shrugged. “It is. Your monsters don’t like loud sounds, that’s all, and I’ll bet the constant blast of cell phones and radio waves is like acid to them.”
Zander looked to the ground in thought, his breathing heavy, and then he looked back to his treasured Arali, weighing the possibility that what the Sheriff had said was true.
“Ramon!” It was Allie, out of breath. “Ramon it’s not working anymore.”
“What?”
“The screaming,”
Zander stared to the creatures, assessing the news.
Ramon began to scream again, but the Arali barely moved this time.
“Yes,” Zander whispered. “It is the noise. A poison.” He paused. “But they’re becoming...inoculated.” He looked to Ouray now and nodded, his eyes full of fervor and hate, and the man with the gun raised it high once more, preparing for Allie’s execution.
Allie opened her mouth to scream, but her throat had nothing left to give, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for the bullet to enter somewhere in her skull.
And then a high-pitched shriek of near ultrasonic levels split the air, and Allie instinctively looked toward the creatures, who were now writhing and twitching again, this time with an agony suggesting they’d been set ablaze.
Ouray lowered the rifle and turned to the creatures as well, and within moments, all five living members of the sinkhole congregation watched in horror and fascination as the forms began to change slowly from their glistening bodies of dusky gray to something solid and black, twitching and jerking with erratic rapidity.
“What is happening?” Allie whispered.
And then she saw another figure move beside her, just over her left shoulder, and as she turned toward it, she saw Maria walking past her.
The girl strode confidently forward, toward the sinkhole and the creatures still floating above it, cradling Antonio out in front of her as if he were the messiah. She didn’t shift a glance in Allie’s direction as she passed.
Ouray noticed Maria as well, but he could only stare at the girl, confused. He looked to his boss for instruction, but Zander was just as mesmerized by the girl as he, and his face, that had shown a desperate concern earlier, was now a ball of panic and turmoil.
And when the twelve-year-old girl finally reached the edge of the sinkhole and held Antonio forward, the man who had orchestrated the unspeakable crime on Garmella, Arizona finally understood what was happening.
He screamed with pleas of torture for Maria to stop, but before the echo of his cries had dissipated, it was already too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“No!”
Zander was fewer than ten yards from the girl now, and when he finally realized her motives, he sprinted toward her, his arms stretched forward, reaching for the bundle in her arms.
But Ramon had seen the twitch of Zander’s reaction before he took a step, and before the villain could reach her, the sheriff threw his body into Zander’s exposed rib cage, knocking him to the ground like a linebacker.
Zander scrambled to a sitting position and turned now to Tehya, who seemed not to have noticed what was happening with her comrade, so mesmerized was she by the Arali and their apparent anguish.
But it was more than just pain the Arali were demonstrating; the forms of the creatures were diminishing now, both in size and color, and Zander looked desperately up to Ouray, who, though fixated on the Arali, still held the rifle in his hand. “Shoot her, Ouray! She’s killing them!”
Ouray met his boss’ gaze and snapped back to the present, and then he lifted the rifle again, this time aiming it at the back of Maria’s head. He closed his free eye and steadied the sight as he wrapped his finger around the trigger.
And then Zander heard the pop of a pistol, and a second later he watched Ouray’s body crumple to the ground, the exit wound of the bullet from the deputy’s sidearm like a third eye in his associate’s forehead.
Zander struggled to his knees when he heard the command for him to freeze, but his legs were like wet pasta now as he watched helplessly the destruction of the beings to which he’d committed his entire life.
“Oh god, no!” he whispered. “Leave!” he screamed toward the monsters. “Leave!”
But the Arali were now latched onto the baby’s mind, just as they had latched onto the minds of possibly thousands of people over several millenia. This time, however, it was they who were controlled. The child was killing them from within.
It was the first tas
te of innocence for the Arali—Zander knew it as certainly as he knew the names of his murdered parents—and the pure, sinless virtue of the baby before them was nothing short of annihilation. The sounds of the world had been a poison to the demons, but they had adapted to the weakness quickly. There was no adaptation to purity, however; it was the toxin of God Himself.
Within minutes, the forms had shrunk to the sizes of small men and the color of anthracite, and the once towering beasts who had raged through the town like cyclones now stood like impotent statues in an abandoned park.
“Shoot them,” Maria said, stepping to the side, never turning to see Allie move in closer to her targets.
“Gladly.”
With three quick pops, Allie shot the monsters in succession, each bullet exploding the black figures to dust before sending the crumbs of their figures into the air and down into the chasm behind them. Not a sound came from the beasts as they disintegrated, and the hole behind them simply absorbed their remnants as the ocean absorbs rain.
Zander stood now, his face white and astonished, and despite Allie’s order of ‘Don’t move!’, he walked to the edge of the sinkhole and stared down into the gaping chasm, despondent and disbelieving. He turned to Maria, who stood less than ten feet away, a look of awe upon his face now, having replaced his expression of misery and hopelessness. He then turned and met Allie’s eyes, followed by Ramon’s, and then finally he looked at Tehya. His eyes softened on the woman and he gave her a sad smile, and then he took one more step and plummeted into the sinkhole.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Are you sure about this, Maria?” Ramon asked.
Maria nodded, and with permission granted, Ramon shoved the spade of the shovel into the dirt, breaking ground on Antonio’s grave in the back of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.
An hour later, just as the whirr of the rescue helicopter began chopping above them—a sign that Josh and his mom had made it to Simonson—the tiny burial hole of Antonio Suarez was finished, and Ramon, Allie, and Gloria listened quietly as Maria said a prayer for her brother.
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