The Last Church

by Richard Lee

  “You’re fucking dead,” No Neck cursed.

  “How right you are,” Meph-Man replied.

  No Neck moved fast for a man of his size. He swung wildly and the Meph-Man allowed the man a couple of strikes before grabbing his arm and twisting it. No Neck cried out and using his free arm, the Meph-Man punched just above the elbow. The loud crack of breaking bone woke Peter from his frozen state.

  Peter removed the knife from his belt. His heart raced. He saw the dagger in his hand, its red writing glowing brightly in the dim light coming from outside. He heard a couple of people walk past the shop. They were laughing and sounded drunk. He hid the dagger behind his back, but he never saw them. They must have already passed.

  “I’m gonna rip your fucking heads off, you assholes!” No Neck threatened. “You broke my fucking arm.”

  “You’re here, we’re here, do it,” the Meph-Man taunted.

  “Valerie,” No Neck said. He started to crawl to the still unconscious woman. “Babe, you okay?”

  “Don’t let them touch,” the Meph-Man said to Peter. His voice full with warning. “If they touch, it’s over.”

  Peter was moving before he even knew it. He reached No Neck in four steps. Just as No Neck reached out for his woman, Peter threw a wild kick at his arm. It connected with his forearm and a loud popping sound bounced off the shop’s walls as No Neck’s shoulder came free of its socket. He let loose a high-pitched cry of pain.

  Peter smiled. He bent down and grabbed No Neck by the hair and dragged him back to the Meph-Man.

  “Kill him,” the Meph-Man said.

  Drawing the knife back, Peter saw the look of fear in the bodybuilder’s eyes. No Neck was pleading without words. And even though this guy needed death because he was a class act asshole, the action of plunging the knife deep into his rock stomach caused him to stop.

  “Don’t wait,” the Meph-Man advised. “You wait and he’ll live and you go back to being nothing.”

  Peter took a deep breath and raised the knife in both hands.

  “Please,” No Neck pleaded. “We only wanted a book. We had no intention of hurting anyone.”

  “He killed your cat,” the Meph-Man said.

  “Never, no way.” No Neck started crying, large thick tears rolled down his cheeks.

  “I never had a cat,” Peter answered the Meph-Man. “I like you,” he said with a smile and drove the dagger into No Neck’s stomach. No Neck arched up as a spray of blood erupted from the gash when Peter removed the knife and drove it home a second time. And a third time.

  He stood up on weak knees. The knife dropped from his hand. He didn’t notice the hilt pulsing a deep green or the crisscross design expanding. Staring at the dead body and seeing the Meph-Man laughing made this entire situation feel like a dream, surreal in every way, although he knew it wasn’t.

  The Meph-Man’s laugh was loud and deep.

  “I knew you could do it,” he said.

  Peter stared at him. His voice seemed to come from a million miles away. “I,” he stuttered. “Did I do that?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t remember it.” His voice was soft with a hint of pride. He had done it. He had killed. He was shocked at his deed and the feeling creeping through was exhilaration and power. Peter liked this.

  There were a bundle of different emotions running through him and so far he had only identified three of them and not one was fear, panic or worry. He had an erection.

  The Meph-Man sat on the floor next to No Neck and said, “You have to kill her as well.” He smiled up at Peter. “Leave no loose ends.”

  Peter approached the woman. He rolled her onto her back and was surprised at how beautiful she was. He remembered the woman in the dream. They were a dead ringer for each other. He imagined what he’d like to do to her when she suddenly rolled up on the back of her shoulders and kicked him in the mouth.

  “Fuck,” he swore, stumbling backwards.

  Her attack had taken him by surprise and given her the chance to get to her feet. Peter lunged at her. She sidestepped and roundhoused him in the stomach. At such a close range it had little power and he recovered quickly.

  “You’re gonna die because of a book,” Peter said. He stretched his hand in the direction of the dagger.

  For a few seconds the dagger wobbled on the floor before it suddenly jumped onto its point and rose off the floor. It flew at great speed into Peter’s waiting hand.

  “Oh, my Lord,” the woman muttered.

  “He isn’t here,” Peter said and lunged at her again.

  She didn’t move. Her eyes were locked on the dagger. Peter’s charge knocked her off her feet. She hit the ground hard. Her eyes rolled back and she was out.

  “Do it,” the Meph-Man said.

  Peter knew what he was talking about. His erection was harder than before and his body ached for sex. It had been so long since the last time and he had grown used to his hand. But here she was. A beautiful woman lying on the floor waiting for him. He needed this.

  Slowly he removed her top to expose a full breast, slowly rising up and down. He traced his finger down her flat tight stomach to the top of her jeans. And stopped. The dagger was still in his hand and it had drawn a thin line of blood following his finger.

  Mesmerized, he stared at the thin line. Her beauty was now marked and he never wanted to have a woman this way. Rape did not excite him. This realization came to him when he noticed his erection had gone soft. This was not the way to be with a woman.

  Holding the dagger in both hands, he drove it down. She screamed and tried to push away. Her legs thrashed out and her arms pummeled him. A wild punch found its mark and Peter felt his nose break for the first time. He had a feeling it would not be the last.

  The dagger had missed its mark and entered her side. Had she moved as the dagger came down? Peter wondered as he raised it a second time and took deadly aim.

  The second strike found her heart. He was surprised only a trickle of blood escaped the wound. The woman grunted once and then lay still.

  The Meph-Man clapped his hands. He was standing again with a thin-lipped smile.

  “Luck with numbers,” Peter demanded.

  The Meph-Man nodded.

  “First division each time for three games and only me as the winner.”

  The Meph-Man nodded again and said, “Chant the verse and stab her again, then it shall be done.”

  Peter was on his knees at her side. Her punches and kicks had forced him to move position to stab her in the heart.

  “What happens to the bodies?” he queried.

  “The dagger will take care of all of them.”

  Peter looked at his dagger and this time he noticed its pulse. As it did, No Neck, the bodybuilding burglar, vanished. The crisscross design expanded and quickly shrunk back to its original size.

  “Do you know the chant?” the Meph-Man asked.

  Peter raised the dagger, closed his eyes and chanted.

  Chapter Twelve

  No longer in Area City 2368

  They found his street near the centre of the city. The building was high. Counting the sections up, Rachael reached five, but including the roof made it six levels. They had to cup their hands on the glass to see through the thick black windows. The ground floor seemed to be two shops separated by a thin dividing wall, which from the outside didn’t seem to reach the far side. A large sign was attached to the outside wall between the first and second floor. Riley and Hans Antiques, N.Z.

  “Just one of those items,” Josh said, “would give all of us enough credits to live on forever.”

  “The digital camera alone would set you up for many years,” Michael added. He was smiling.

  Rachael and Ami knew Josh was just talking, giving voice to a stray thought. But Michael, on the other hand, they weren’t so sure about.

  Rachael said, “I wouldn’t. The guards are bound to search the cruiser when we return.” Her voice was stern, as if this were a true and given
fact.

  Ami had planted the seed of bringing something back, most likely for historical knowledge, while Michael was only interested in credit gains. Rachael herself wasn’t planning on searching for anything to bring back, but if a keepsake should show itself during their tour, she would certainly put it in her pocket. Josh was too straight to steal anything. The fact he’d taken a digital camera and digital video camera was shocking, but he’d done it for research and not for the money it would fetch in the dome.

  Rachael wondered what was on the other floors. Surely no one would have a house four or five floors high, would they?

  The truth was she had no idea. This was another of the questions she wanted an answer to about the past, which no subject at the university could give her. She had had her doubts about archaeology until the team found a hidden room in a basement. The team members, all except her, concluded that it had to have been a bomb shelter of some style, but it seemed unused due to the fact they found no bones, despite all the posters and the compact disk and player. She hadn’t voiced her thoughts at the time because she was still new, but Rachael thought it was someone’s room, like an extra room or bedroom. Why else were there no provisions or bones?

  Here she was, in the past, with the answers to all her questions at hand. She wondered if it were viable to remain here, to live and breathe her answers, but quickly pushed such foolish thoughts away. It would be near impossible for her to live in this time zone. What could she do? How would she survive? The dome wasn’t much, but it was home.

  “Rachael,” Ami said. “Earth to Rachael, anyone home?”

  Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. How long was I zoning?” She looked at the other team members. They had no idea what she had said, but must be used to it by now. There wasn’t a quizzical look among them.

  “A couple of minutes.” Ami went to the front door. “Shall we?”

  Rachael nodded.

  A small bell above the door tinkled as they entered. The floor size was huge, at least twice the size of Rachael’s rented house. Pots, vases, plates and other delicate items, like paintings, and frames and old photographs on rust edge tin, thought to be lost forever, stared them in the face. Under the small spotlights, they glittered as though they had been polished only seconds ago.

  A sign hung above an automatic sliding door. It read: Internet Café. Josh was eager to see what kind of systems they used. He was the first to try to enter, but the automatic doors wouldn’t open.

  “The infrared can’t see you,” Rachael said, “but elevators can.” She pointed to a single elevator. A large warning was painted in red: Do not use this elevator. Use will result in prosecution.

  “Private elevators are locked with codes and keys,” Michael said, slipping a small trinket into his coat pocket.

  Rachael saw his act, but said nothing. Time was against them. She could feel it pressing down on her, like a huge unrelenting weight on a downward spiral.

  “Let’s try,” she said.

  Ami was the first to reach the elevator. She paused, waiting for Rachael.

  “Let’s start down and work our way up,” she said, catching up.

  Ami nodded agreement and pushed the down button.

  The doors silently slid open. They all entered as quietly as the doors had opened. On the front left hand side was a panel with numbers and buttons starting from B and rising to five. The elevator had a deep red carpet covering the floor and walls. She reached past Ami and pushed the B button.

  It moved fast and without a sound. A moment later they heard a ‘ping’ and the doors opened, exposing a short hallway with a steel door at the end. Going to it, Eric pointed at the number pad and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Security lock,” Michael said.

  “Wish we could see what’s in there,” Penny said. She tapped five random numbers into the keypad. A red light shone. A small screen on the keypad said, “Invalid Code. Please re-enter.”

  “Didn’t work,” Josh said with a smile.

  Penny shrugged. “Worth a try.”

  “Indeed. Shall we try the other floors?” Rachael was already walking back to the elevator.

  Ami caught up with her and softly said, “Time is short, isn’t it?”

  Rachael replied, “I don’t know, but I think so. I have a strange feeling is all.”

  “You feel it too?”

  Rachael looked at her, surprised.

  “Is your feeling hard to describe?”

  “I don’t think we’re meant to be here. It’s like a pressure on my chest, like something is trying to push me away.”

  “And it came from that room,” Ami added.

  “It’s a darkness,” she said, giving it a form.

  “What’s ‘a darkness’?” Michael asked.

  Rachael found everyone grouped behind her. She knew straight away they couldn’t feel it. Only her and Ami seemed sensitive to the mood of the surrounding area. The blackness pulsing from that closed and locked steel door. She wanted to leave now, this very instant. Claim there wasn’t anymore time left and just run back the way she came. But that would be unfair to the others. Her fear shouldn’t be a reason to stop. It hadn’t stopped them before and she decided it wouldn’t start now. She saw Ami push the 2nd floor button.

  As the elevator doors closed, it seemed to close off the darkness, cutting it from its source. The fear with edging panic seemed to dissipate.

  The elevator seemed to rise for a long time. Above the doors Rachael noticed a light flashing on printed numbers. B, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It stopped on four and five. Both numbers were lit. She looked at the panel. Ami had pushed the 2nd floor button, but the one above the door read 5.

  The elevator stopped, but the doors did not open.

  “What’s happened?” Penny said. A hint of worry edged into her voice. She fidgeted with her skirt.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Rachael said, trying to reassure Penny, even though she could feel the return of the darkness. She looked at Ami.

  “Don’t look at me. Eric’s the whiz kid.”

  Eric studied the panel. He noticed a small door under it and tried to get it open. It wouldn’t move.

  “Oh, no,” Penny whimpered.

  “You’re not afraid of small places, are you?” Michael said.

  “Only if I can’t see an opening.” Penny pushed herself against the back wall of the elevator.

  “But you can see the door in front of you.”

  “But it’s stuck, isn’t it?” Her voice trembled and eyes watered but no tears came.

  Eric pushed down on the door handle. It slid open.

  “I’ll never understand phobias,” Michael said. “Especially your kind with your major. Did you think you’d never get stuck in a small place?”

  Eric saw a red button marked “Emergency Open” and pushed it. Instantly the doors swished apart.

  They were between floors. The bottom half showed the floor of the room above it. The upper half showed the outer elevator closed doors.

  “Excellent, Eric. Now how can we get those doors open?”

  Josh answered, “Maybe we just push.” He edged past Rachael and Ami and pointed to a sticker, which read, “In case of emergency, push lever to open.” There was a sticker of each door with an arrow pointing to a lever embedded in the wall.

  Forcing the levers down, the outer doors opened a crack. He pumped the lever and the doors opened slightly with each downward thrust.

  “It takes a while,” Michael said. “What if there was a fire? You would burn to death before you got the door open.”

  Still pumping, Josh said, “Who would use an elevator in a fire?”

  Rachael laughed. All children learned not to use transporters during a fire and she guessed an elevator was a transporter for this time zone.

  A bad smell wafted through the opening.

  Josh got the doors three-quarters open before they realized it was going to be difficult to get through. The opening was t
oo high to jump up. Eric put his hand on Josh’s shoulder and motioned him to move aside. He reached up. He placed his hands on the floor above and pushed himself up.

  He vanished for a moment. Then they saw him reaching through.

  “Rachael first,” Josh said. He lifted her from the waist to Eric’s waiting hands. A second later she vanished through the opening.

  “Penny next,” Michael said.

  “Here,” said Josh to Eric. “Take the video and camera.” He passed them through before lifting Penny through. Ami was next. Michael and Josh opted to lift themselves through with a little assistance from Eric.

  They were in another hallway with an opening to the left and a door at the end. They headed to the opening. The smell grew stronger the closer they got. Rachael fell back, letting Michael take the lead for the first time. The darkness had returned and was pushing hard against her.

  “Can anyone else feel that?” she asked.

  Ami and Penny nodded.

  “A little,” Ami said.

  “Yes,” said Josh. “The excitement is getting to me a little.”

  Rachael didn’t feel any excitement, only fear. The closer she got to whatever room was in there, the more the fear tightened in her chest. Squeezing her heart and lungs. Her steps slowed until she was last in line. She watched everyone file into the room without any caution at all, as if they were walking into their own room at their own house and their own time zone. Either they felt no fear or the excitement for them was too strong to ignore.

  She remained in the hallway a moment longer. They were suddenly all talking. Words of amazement or shock flew from their lips. She heard Michael ask, “Are you recording all this?” And Josh replied, “I haven’t stopped since we entered this place.”

  Penny: “I’ve never seen holo-photos like this.”

  Ami: “The hidden reality of daily life.”

  Penny: “But, this is how the guy lived. How, I assume, most people lived in the twenty first century.”

  Josh: “Look at this. An ancient computer in perfect working order.”

  Rachael entered then to see Josh holding what use to be called a laptop computer.