by Alton Gansky
I was lost for words. That thing could flatten me in a second if it had a mind to.
“Chad, if you go over, then so do I. No man should die alone. I’m gonna be with you on the deck or in the ocean. You are not alone. We are never alone.”
His eyes drifted back to me. “I’m no good, Tank. I never have been. I’m a loser. I was born a loser. I’ll die a loser. You don’t like me. I’ve done nothing but antagonize you.”
I nodded. “Yep. You’re good at that. It’s your super power.”
“See?”
“What I see, buddy, is a man in the need of a friend. I’m that friend.”
Tears trickled down his cheek. “What about him?” He nodded at Dad. “We can’t stand up to that.”
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” I don’t know where that came from, but it felt right.
“What?”
“Don’t ask me. I can’t even tell you how old I am.” I looked at Ugly who was no longer content to point at the sea but was now gesturing for Chad to finish the job of killing himself.
Chad straightened on the rail. He was no longer leaning over the ocean.
I had had enough of standing around. I started toward Chad without giving a glance to Dad. If he wanted to kill me mid-step, I couldn’t stop him. I resigned myself to death. Even that seemed familiar. I couldn’t recall my past, but I guessed my life wasn’t boring.
Chad eyes widened again. “What are you doing?”
“Resisting the devil, buddy. Just resisting the devil.”
Chapter 13
SHIFT, SHIFT, SHUFFLE
SEVERAL IDEAS RAN through my weary brain. I could rush Chad, grab him, and pull him onto the deck. Chancy. That struck me as a stupid idea. I’d do it if I had no choice, but instead I went with something less Hollywood. I held out my hand. “Come on down, Chad. You’re giving me gray hair.”
“What about him?” He nodded in the direction of Ugly.
I gave the ghoul a glance. “He will do what he will do. Even if he kills us, we will die on our own terms.”
Chad thought about that for a moment and I thought about yanking him off the railing. I chose not to and prayed that I wouldn’t regret it. Crawling off on his own would let him feel like he made the decision to live and hadn’t been forced into it.
He took my hand and planted his feet on the deck. I took him in my arms to give him a manly bear hug, but then held him a little longer than was natural for me.
I felt a warmth in my body. The fear that had been tugging at my guts disappeared. My eyes stayed closed but I could tell we were covered in light.
“Um, Tank, this is a little awkward.”
“Right. I don’t know…” I stared at him. His wounds and the blood were gone. I couldn’t tell where the cut on his cheek and forehead had been. I told him about it. He had been healed.
Dad let out a furious wail that could be heard a mile away.
“Oh, shut up,” Chad said.
That made me laugh. I had no reason to laugh. I still didn’t remember my past, was still on a dead ship adrift in the ocean, and the rest of our group was still missing. Sometimes, if people get frightened enough they laugh. Maybe that was me. I didn’t have enough energy to care.
The giant bent at the waist and put his ugly mug close to our faces. He was real enough and his breath smelled like he had been lunching on raw skunk.
“Maybe we should run,” I suggested. Not that I thought we’d make it.
Chad swallowed hard. “No way, Big Guy. I’m done running. If I’m going to die, it’s going to be against my will, not because this thing forced me into suicide.
I began to question my sanity. After all I had seen, I probably should have done that sooner, but this brought the point home. I had to be nuts because Dad seemed to shrink some. Chad noticed that too.
“All my life, you have abused me in every way possible.” Chad was getting hot under the collar. “I put up with it because I was too young to do anything about it. Well, I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t have to put up with you for another minute.”
Scary-Dad shrunk a little more. I remembered nothing of childhood, or for that matter, my adulthood, but Chad seemed to be dredging up horrible memories from his past. Maybe having amnesia was better.
“Go ahead, Dad. You’re big and bad. Do something to me now. You might get away with it, but I won’t give you the satisfaction of seeing me afraid again.”
The incredible shrinking dad shrunk even more. It was as if it had been empowered by Chad’s terror, but starved in the face of Chad’s courage.
Chad must have put those two ideas together because he got louder and bolder. He let loose with a string of insults and curses that would have sent the sailors on this ship running, if there were any sailors on this ship.
Before my eyes what had been a deformed giant of a man reduced to normal size. He stepped back from Chad. I’m pretty sure I saw his swollen lip quiver.
Chad kept venting, and as the specter of his father diminished Chad’s courage and intensity grew. Somehow, Chad’s external injuries had been healed; no doubt his emotional injuries were being cured now.
The Dad ghoul grew smaller and smaller. When he reached the size of a child, he up and disappeared.
We stared at the spot where he had been standing.
“Okay,” I said. “Now I’ve seen everything.”
“You haven’t seen anything.” It was a new voice. An angry voice. A threatening voice.
A man in a red robe rounded the same corner I had and moved onto the bow deck. Dread filled me from toes to skull.
“Who—” I began.
Red Robe raised his hand.
He was holding something.
A gun?
No, it looked like a television remote control. He pressed a button.
Shift.
I stumbled down a half flight of stairs. I managed to stay upright, but my body lodged a serious protest in my knees, left ankle, and lower back. Still, I had to be thankful I didn’t go head first down the metal treads. That would have been a good way to pick up a few dozen bruises, a broken bone or two, or even a busted neck.
It took me a moment to stop swaying. It was dark. Like I was locked inside a lightless vault. I wished for my flashlight. I had no idea where that was. It went missing. Okay, I stumble down so if go back the same way I fell, I’ll be moving up toward the light—
Shift.
My nose hurt and for good reason. I was face down in the dark again. Judging by the pain in my head, I had landed face first on the steel floor.
I could smell oil. Oil and diesel. The engine room. Daniel had been locked in the engine—
Shift.
The theater again. At least this time I had a little light to judge my situation—
Shift.
A bed. Except I was crossways in it with my feet hanging off the side leaving me in a kneeling position. Some light through portholes. Gray. Large room. Nice. A white officer’s style cap rested on a desk near the head of the bed. Captain’s quarters?
Shift.
Kitchen.
Shift.
Flat on my back on top of the superstructure. Gray sky overhead. Gray horizon—
Shift.
Dark again. Standing. Stumbled back into what felt like shelves. A few touches later I judged that I was in a storage room for linens and towels.
Shift.
Cold. Metal all around. Smell of meat. Inside a large industrial refrigerator. I heard no compressors. Cold, but not freezing. No power.
Shuffle.
On my hands and knees. Puking again. Praying that this would stop. Dizzy. Unsteady. In pain. Ready to collapse. I raised my eyes enough to see I was out in the open again. I wretched a few times more. Someone else did the same. Then someone else. I wasn’t alone.
I pushed back from the mess I made and sat on the deck, my arms around my knees, my head resting on those arms.
Breathe. Deep breath.
“
Tank?”
I lifted my head and looked to my left. There was Red, Andi, with an impressive mess in front of her. “You okay?”
She cut her eyes at me. “Sure. Don’t I look just swell?”
“No, but you’re still beautiful.” I eased myself down so I rested on my back. Man, I needed to rest.
“I bet you say that to all the vomiting girls.” That was Brenda. She was behind me somewhere. I didn’t bother looking. That would have meant moving and moving meant more yakking.
“Where’s Daniel?” I asked Brenda.
“I’m here, Tank. I’m okay.”
It was great to hear his voice. “I guess you tossed your cookies, too.”
“Nah,” the kid said. “I never throw up. That’s for babies.”
“Okay, buddy boy. I’m gonna tickle you until you turn purple.”
He chuckled but I was pretty sure it was a courtesy laugh. “Bring it.”
That gave me a reason to smile. “Okay. You free next week, ’cuz I’m gonna need a little time.”
A shadow fell over me. As much of a shadow as a body could cast in the gray light. It was Chad.
“Hey Chad. I know, I know. I did it again.”
“We all did, Tank.”
“Not me,” Daniel said.
I sat up and looked around. We were higher than the main deck and a few deck chairs were scattered around and few patio style tables. I worked myself to my feet. The deck was maybe twenty-five percent as long as the main deck. Rising from the middle of the deck was one of the ship’s smoke stacks. No smoke. That was to be expected since we had been without power since I woke this morning, or afternoon, or whenever it was.
“Sun deck,” Chad said.
The others joined us. Not to put too fine a point on it, we carried a bit of a stink with us.
I was tense. I kept waiting to blink and end up somewhere else in the ship. That didn’t happen, but I hadn’t wasted my worries. The guy in the red robe appeared at the top of the stairs, the stairs that led down to the next deck. Man, he looked familiar, and not in a good way. The robe was open in the front revealing an expensive looking three-piece suit. Like everything else, it was gray.
Daniel stepped behind me. Brenda was at his side, her hand on his shoulder. “Slick doesn’t get close to Daniel. Got it, Tank? No matter what, Red Robe doesn’t get within twenty feet of the boy.”
“Yes, ma’am.” That was all I could think of to say.
“I have had enough of you.” Red Robe took two steps closer. I moved to the side to stay between Nutcase and Daniel.
“Yeah?” Chad said. “I don’t even know you and I’ve had all I can take of your face.”
Red Robe turned to stare at Chad. “True, we haven’t met face to face yet, young Chad, but I know about you. I know all about you. You are a problem.”
He turned to us and his eyes turned a glacial blue. His eye color changed. That seemed familiar, too. I was getting sick of hints about my past. I wanted real information.
“You all are a problem to us,” Red Robe said. “And we will stand for it no longer.”
“Us?” Andi said.
“The Gate.” It was Daniel that answered. “Long story.”
I hoped to hear it someday.
“And the kid. We hate you most of all, Daniel.”
Brenda snarled. “One step closer, Slick, I’ll separate your head from your body.”
“Sure, you will.” He didn’t sound convinced. “I’m not afraid of a tattoo artist.” He did take a step back. “I have something to show you. You, Brenda, and you, Chad, should enjoy this.”
He raised the remote control in his right hand, gave us a sick grin and then, like some old time actor, shouted, “Behold.”
Chapter 14
GRAY SKIES ARE GONNA CLEAR UP
THE MOMENT RED ROBE said, “Behold,” the gray skies went black, a black filled with funny lookin’ stars and other things I couldn’t quite figure out. One thing I could figure out: they were gettin’ closer and I didn’t have a good feeling about that.
“What the…” Chad said.
Then things got weird.
A hole appeared in the sky. Like someone took an ice pick and gave the heavens a good poke. The hole drew closer and grew bigger.
“Should we run?” Andi sounded a little on edge. If she hadn’t, I would have been worried. I was on edge. More than that. I was paralyzed with fear.
“Run where?” Brenda said. “There are creeps wherever we go.”
The hole turned into a tunnel. I could see down its middle. It reminded me of a long train tunnel, except it was rotating, expanding, and moving.
“Wait,” Brenda said. “I know this. I’ve seen this.” She pulled her eyes away from the thing in the sky and stared at Chad. “You. This has something to do with you, doesn’t it?”
Chad stood statue-still for a moment, not hearing, not moving, not responding. His mouth opened and I half-expected words to come out. No words came from him, but a gut wrenching, eardrum bustin’ scream did. He clamped his hands on the side of his head as if shutting his ears would make him blind to what was before his eyes. Of course, that makes no sense, but nothing on this ship made sense.
The ship rose. I mean that in the most literal way I can. The ship lifted out of the water. The deck heaved beneath our feet. Andi fell, Brenda stumbled, and I had to shuffle my feet several times to keep my balance. Oddly, Daniel seemed to ride the deck just fine. Youth.
The tunnel, the tube, whatever you want to call it, swallowed us whole. It swallowed the entire ship.
“Ain’t no way this is good.” It wasn’t profound, but my statement was accurate.
Brenda steadied herself and looked to be on the edge of panic. Daniel had said we all knew each other and I believed him, but I remembered so little. Still, I had the feeling that Brenda didn’t scare easily, and seeing her terror made me even more afraid.
The ship moved through the tube bow first. Around us the tunnel spun. The wall seemed to move as if it were alive. Then I saw the first face. A frog-like face. A demonic face. It reminded me of one of those statues people used to attach to old gothic churches and buildings. Gargoyles. That was it. I was looking at the face of a butt-ugly gargoyle. It opened its mouth.
Then there was another, then another. The place was alive with them.
The ship began to flip over like it was capsizing in slow motion. That got our attention. Any moment we would slip from the deck and fall into the sides of the tunnel and become gargoyle food.
But we didn’t. We turned over all right, but we didn’t fall. It was as if there was no gravity. We just stayed in place.
I struggled to come up with a plan of action. I could probably reach Red Robe, but then what? I guessed we might need him to get back home, and if not home, a better place than this.
We emerged from the rotating tunnel into a black space filled with giant slowly spinning snowflakes. Each snowflake was large enough to hold a man. In fact, I saw people in them. Something else that made no sense.
“Look familiar, boy?” Red Robe moved close to Chad. “How about it? This is the place you visit when you do your remote viewing thing. Look around you, boy. You move yourself here when you do your astral projection thing, but you are a mere amateur. Nothing more. You wade in the shallows, Mr. Chad Trenton, while the Gate swims in the deep waters. Look, I moved a whole ship from one multi-verse to another many times and I can do it again.”
He raised the remote control. “I can do all that and more. And if I want—and I want—I can move just myself and leave all of you right here. Alone. Helpless.”
“Why?” Andi asked.
“Ah, the lovely Andi Goldstein. Always searching for answers and patterns and connections.” His lips parted. “Because I want to, Ms. Goldstein. Because I can. Most of all, because I have grown weary of you and your friends destroying our work.”
Over the bow I could see snow covered cliffs and a huge, black surface, like a wall.
“We don’t even know who you are.” Brenda added a colorful but not endearin’ reference.
“Well, that’s to be expected with the memory loss.” The wicked smile came out again.
The ship shuddered and the space around us lightened a tick or two.
Red Robe continued, apparently enjoying his own voice. I missed his first few words because one of the giant snowflakes drifted close to the safety rail. It spun slowly on its axis. Inside were several children. Children with coal black eyes.
“…around you,” Red Robe was saying. “This is your new home…”
Another snowflake drew close. Inside it was a swarm of “things.” They were about the size of a child’s doll and looked like small people but with large lumpy heads, spindly arms and legs, and leather skin. They also had skin-covered wings. Worse, they had tails equipped with nasty looking stingers.
A movement near the steps to the sun deck where we were caught my attention. I braced myself for more terror. Instead, a man in a suit slowly ascended the steps and moved onto our deck. He glanced at us and smiled. He was tall, had gray hair, and oozed intelligence. Of all the things I had seen since waking up on this ship, he seemed the most familiar.
The man moved slowly and silently. For some reason the snowflake with the black-eyed kids in it backed away. The one with the swarm of uglies in it stayed in place.
I don’t know what the new arrival had in mind but I sensed he was on our side. To keep Red Robe’s attention on us and not on the man he had yet to notice, I asked, “You’re going to abandon us? What about Daniel? He’s just a kid.”
“Your good and kind heart, Tank, is what makes you stupid. I don’t care if Daniel is a kid. Leaving him here will be the greatest joy of all. We have grown weary of all of you, but none more than Daniel. We hate him the most. You can’t win. Not even with Daniel on your side.”
“Excuse me, Dr. Trenton,” the stranger said.
At least he was polite.
Red Robe—Trenton—turned sharply and got a face full of fist for his effort. The stranger put some weight into it. So much so, that Trenton’s head snapped around and he dropped like a sack of rocks. Judging by the way his head bounced on the hard surface, I was pretty sure he was unconscious before he hit the deck. The remote he had been holding bounced a few times and skittered five or six feet away.
