by Mark Lukens
• • •
As the flames around them died down quickly, Cole watched as the Ancient Enemy stood up from the two dead bodies that had somehow twisted together in a melting of flesh—if standing up could be the correct term. The thing unfolded itself from the two bodies, then refolded, then unfolded again, constantly reforming itself, changing constantly as it achieved solidity. And then the air around it began to shimmer and distort.
Oh God, Cole thought … it’s going to teleport away again like it did at the Mountainside Inn. It was going to teleport away and they were going to lose it.
• • •
Begay beat at the snakes and spiders and scorpions, but none of them attacked him—they only attacked Palmer and Cole. Palmer had been bit twice so far, maybe more than that, and Begay wasn’t sure if Cole had been bit. Begay had seen the black hole opening up in front of David, and he knew that David was fighting that thing across the room, drawing that thing back into its own world. Begay just needed to hold on a little longer … he just needed to give David a chance to defeat the Darkwind.
There was a screech in the air as the Ancient Enemy was drawn across the floor, its constantly changing form stretched out, tentacles and feelers trying desperately to hold on to the floor much like Stella was trying to hold on. But that thing seemed like it was losing the battle … Was David winning?
• • •
Stella was almost over the edge of the hole in the floor now, her legs dangling down inside. She could feel more of the skeletal hands down inside the hole grabbing on to her. It seemed like they were making a last ditch effort to pull her down into the darkness. She could feel Joe pulling on her wrists, but it felt like she was slipping away from him.
She looked up above Joe at the swirling birds in the smoky air. A few of the buzzards and bats were dive-bombing Joe, trying to get him to loosen his grip as they pecked and clawed at him. But he wouldn’t let go. He kept his head down, his teeth gritted, his eyes on her, and he would not let go.
But Stella saw something else above the birds and bats that concerned her even more—the church ceiling was shaking apart now. Debris and pieces of wood and shingles were already raining down around them. Then she heard the popping noise of wood beams snapping, braces breaking loose.
And then part of the roof was caving in, collapsing down onto them.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
“Look out!” Cole yelled. He pushed Begay and Palmer out of the way of the large section of roof that was falling down on them—it was the size of a king-sized bed. He managed to get Begay out of the way, but the piece of roof fell down on top of Palmer, burying him underneath it in a cloud of dust and sand.
• • •
Stella pulled her legs as hard as she could, and Joe was helping, but it seemed like the skeletal things were still making one last massive effort to pull her down beneath the floor with them. She thought they were going to tear her legs off.
• • •
The Ancient Enemy tried to distort the space around it, trying to bend and fold itself around the shimmering air … but it was losing the battle. The alien thing slid across the floor towards the spinning vortex, screeching in fury and fear, twisting and writhing as it was dragged along, feelers and tentacles flapping around and slapping at the floorboards. The Ancient Enemy resisted, but the force from the spinning black hole was too strong, and it was sucked into the gaping hole in reality, back into its own world. With one last screech of anguish, the constantly twisting and changing black thing was gone.
• • •
Stella felt the grips of the dead hands loosen on her legs all at once. She saw the dead bodies rise up out of the holes in the floorboards like invisible cranes were picking up their bodies. The dead shot across the air towards the spinning black hole. She couldn’t help it, she turned to look.
“Don’t look,” Joe whispered. He was right there beside her, and he hugged her, shielding her from the sight as he held on to her.
• • •
Cole watched as the animals that weren’t on fire suddenly backed up away from them. If animals could’ve looked like they had suddenly woken up in confusion, then this was it. The buzzards, birds, and bats swirled above them in the smoke, and then they all shot up and out through the large hole that was in the ceiling now, escaping out into the sandstorm above. A few of them flew out of the broken windows, some of them colliding with each other in a panic, but then escaping.
Snakes, spiders, and scorpions skittered away from the fires that were dying down quickly, slithering and crawling back towards the open doorway like an army, and others escaped down into the cracks in the floor and at the edges of the walls.
Cole looked over at the black hole in front of David as the hole turned back into a spinning black ball crackling with electricity, getting smaller and smaller until it closed up on itself and disappeared into nothing.
The church’s walls were still rumbling and more of the ceiling was going to collapse soon. The storm outside was at its strongest now.
“Help me get him out of there!” Begay yelled at Cole.
Begay grabbed a corner of the large section of roof that had fallen down on Palmer, and Cole took the other. They managed to move the piece of roof back far enough to see Palmer underneath, unconscious now, but they had moved it enough to pull him out.
“We need to get him to the door!” Cole said.
Begay looked a little uncertain about that, but the snakes, spiders, and scorpions were almost entirely gone now, and the dead bodies of the man and woman had slipped into the spinning ball along with the Ancient Enemy that had been inside of them.
“It’s over,” Cole said. “David won. That thing is gone!”
Begay didn’t question it. He grabbed one of Palmer’s arms and Cole grabbed the other one. They pulled him through the debris across the floor.
“We gotta go!” Cole yelled at Stella and Joe who were crouched down on the floor together. Stella grabbed her gun and stuck it down into the waistband of her pants as she got to her feet. Joe helped her stand and they looked at David.
David had collapsed on the floor inside the circle and he was unconscious now. The spinning ball or hole in their reality or doorway or whatever it had been, was gone now. There was only the ozone smell in the air from the crackling electricity.
The sandstorm was already dying down, but the building was still shaking, still ready to collapse.
“Get David!” Cole yelled at Stella. “We need to get out of here. This building’s going to collapse!”
Stella darted to the painted circle. She scooped David up in her arms, and Joe followed her through the debris as the roof caved in behind them, crashing down section by section as they both ran to the doorway.
All of them got outside of the church as large sections of the roof fell down to the floor behind them. Cole and Begay dragged Palmer down the wood steps, and then down the path through the rock garden and into the dirt street of the ghost town. Stella cradled David in her arms, and then she dropped down to her knees and set him down on the sand near Palmer.
“Is he …?” Cole asked Stella.
“He’s still breathing,” she told him as tears streamed down her face.
Cole looked at Palmer. He was still breathing, too. But he had lacerations on his face and hands, and he looked pale from the snakebites.
A crashing sound from behind them turned all of them around to the church. The roof had caved in all the way, but the walls in front were still standing, and somehow part of the steeple had held up. From the front it still looked almost like a regular church.
But they were out here now; they were safe.
“David won,” Cole said to Stella, and he realized he was crying too. “David, beat it. He sent it back.”
Stella nodded. “It’s over,” she said. “It’s really over.”
Joe hugged Stella, and then he pulled away and smiled at her.
“I’m going to need you two to raise y
our hands up slowly,” Begay said.
Cole turned around and saw that Begay was pointing his service pistol at him.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
“What are you doing?” Stella yelled at Begay.
“He’s a wanted criminal.”
“He saved your life!” Stella screamed at Begay.
“It’s okay,” Cole told Stella and he raised his hands up a little in front of him.
“I need you to take your gun out and throw it over to me,” Begay told Cole.
Cole nodded, indicating that he understood. He reached inside his coat and pulled his gun out slowly and held it with two fingers by the barrel. He threw it across the sand to Begay where it landed with a thud.
Cole raised his hands again. “Take me,” he said. “I’m the one you want. Just let them go.”
“He was helping them get here,” Joe told Begay, “helping David get here so he could send the Darkwind back to its own world.”
“I didn’t kill those people,” Cole told Begay. “I helped rob that bank in Colorado. One of our guys killed that old man in the bank, not me. But they’re all dead now, including my brother. That thing … the Ancient Enemy killed all of them.”
Begay picked up Cole’s gun from the sand and stuffed it down into the waistband of his pants. He looked at Stella. “What about you? You have a gun?”
Stella nodded, already resigned to the fact that they were going to get nowhere arguing with this man. “I’ve got one in my waistband,” she said in a low voice. “It’s empty,” she added.
“Throw it over here. Move very slowly.”
The wind was dying down and the air was almost still again. The coyotes were gone. The spiders, snakes, and scorpions had all crawled away to their safe havens.
Stella pulled her gun out slowly and then threw it across the sand to Begay. “You don’t have to do this,” she said.
Begay didn’t answer.
“That man is dying,” Joe said, nodding down at Palmer. “We need to get him to a hospital.”
Begay looked at the four wheelers parked near them, and then he looked back at Joe. “I have my truck parked a few miles away from here. I followed your trail, but I had to follow you on foot after the group of rocks.”
Joe nodded like he understood exactly where Begay was talking about.
“I have a large first aid kit in the back of my truck. There’s anti-venom in there for rattlesnake bites. Agent Palmer will still need medical attention, but the anti-venom will help for now.”
Joe nodded again.
“I want you to take one of your four wheelers and get the anti-venom for me.”
Joe didn’t move.
Begay lowered his gun and holstered it. “I’m not going to arrest you two,” he told Cole and Stella. “I just want to help Palmer and I want all of this to be over. I just needed to have your guns.”
Cole lowered his hands and nodded like he understood, but he still looked wary.
Joe walked over to his four wheeler without another word. He started it and then drove off down the street towards the ghost town.
“What about the FBI agent?” Stella asked Begay. “How are we going to get him out of here?”
Begay just sighed … he didn’t have the answer.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
“Look what I found,” Joe said as he drove up on the four wheeler with his horse following him. It had taken him nearly an hour to get to Begay’s truck and back. “We can put the agent on my horse and take him back with us,” he said as he smiled.
After the injections of anti-venom, Cole helped Begay load Palmer’s body up onto the horse, laying him facedown over the back of the horse. Joe got into the saddle, and rode the horse with Palmer’s body right behind him.
Cole drove one of the four wheelers and he had Stella with him. Begay drove the other four wheeler with David on the back. They all traveled away from the ghost town.
• • •
Thirty-five minutes later they were at Begay’s Ford Bronco. Begay and Cole laid Palmer down in the back seat. Palmer was somewhat conscious for a few moments, but he didn’t seem to know what was going on, and then he passed out again.
Begay looked at Stella and Cole. “When Agent Palmer wakes up, I’ll tell him that you two got away. But I have to take David back with me. He has an aunt who’s very worried about him.”
Stella nodded. She knew this was coming. She knew there would come a time when she would have to let David go.
Cole knelt down in front of David and gave him a hug. He wiped at tears in his eyes. “Thank you, David, for fighting that thing. For sending it back. For saving all of us.”
“Thank you for helping me,” David said, holding on to Cole tightly.
Cole stood up and then Stella knelt down in the sand in front of David. She was already crying but she smiled at him. “You’re a special kid. Don’t you ever forget that.”
David cried harder. “I love you.”
“I know. I love you too, but I have to go now.”
David held on to her, sobbing.
“Okay,” Begay said and even his eyes were wet with tears. “We have to go. I need to get Agent Palmer to a hospital.”
David let Stella go and he climbed up into the passenger seat of Begay’s Ford Bronco.
“Buckle your seatbelt,” Stella told him, wiping away at her tears.
David smiled at her and then Stella shut his door. She watched David slip the seatbelt over him. Stella looked away from David.
Joe walked up to Begay. “Thank you,” he said. “You’re doing the right thing.” And then he said something else in Navajo that Stella and Cole couldn’t understand.
Begay looked down at his necklace and he took it off. “Billy Nez gave it to me before I came out here,” Begay answered Joe in English. “He said it would keep me safe.”
“May I open it?” Joe asked.
Begay handed it to him.
Joe studied the silver and turquoise charm on the necklace for a long moment and then he twisted it open. He pulled out a small lock of hair tied in a tight braid with a thin piece of leather string wrapped around it. He held it up so everyone could see.
“What is it?” Cole asked.
“It’s a lock of David’s hair.”
Cole looked confused and he glanced over at David who waited in Captain Begay’s truck.
“No,” Joe said, smiling. “This lock of hair is from the other David … the one before this David. This is what kept those snakes and spiders away from you. It’s what kept you safe on your journey to this ghost town. It’s been passed down in Billy Nez’s family.”
Begay nodded solemnly as Joe handed the necklace and lock of hair back to him.
“I will make sure it gets back to Billy Nez,” Begay said and then he walked to his truck and got in the driver’s side. He started the truck and drove away.
• • •
An hour and a half later Stella and Cole sat in Joe Blackhorn’s trailer. They were both exhausted but energized at the same time. Cole was ready to get on the road soon. He didn’t entirely trust Begay’s word that they wouldn’t come after him and Stella. And even if Begay’s word was true, Cole still didn’t trust the FBI agent. When Agent Palmer woke up, he would come after them for sure. But they probably had at least twenty-four hours before that happened … at least he hoped so.
Joe prepared a big dinner and they drank more tea and coffee. Stella talked with Joe about archaeology and past civilizations and the history of the Navajo. She seemed surprised about some of the things she’d learned from Joe. It was a good dinner. For the first time in such a long time, they felt safe.
• • •
Later that night Cole and Stella lay on the living room floor covered up with the blankets even though it was warm inside of Joe’s trailer. Joe had gone to the back to his bedroom, followed by his dog.
It was warm inside the trailer. It was quiet. They were safe. But Cole wouldn’t truly feel safe until he was out
of the country.
He asked Stella what her plans were now and he was surprised when she asked him about Costa Rica.
“What about your job?” he asked her. “Your career?”
Her head lay on the pillow, her blond hair spread out on it, her skin so white in the moonlight filtering in through the open blinds over the windows. She smiled in the darkness, her eyes twinkling. “My career is over. I’ll never get hired by another university after this. If I go back, the cops will arrest me. They will interrogate me until I give you up. They will ask me question after question about what happened and they’ll never believe me. They’ll charge me with something.”
Cole nodded. He agreed with her about that.
She smiled at him. “I don’t see that I have many other options besides running away with you … if you want me with you.”
Cole smiled and nodded at her. “I do.”
“So you feel like having some company?”
“More than you know,” he said and kissed her.
She kissed him back, and then they looked at each other for a moment. She smiled at him.
Moments later exhaustion took over and they both fell asleep in the darkness.
• • •
Cole and Stella got up early the next morning. Joe had offered one of his pickup trucks to them. He told them they could take it down to a small airport near Page, Arizona and leave it there. He would have someone pick his truck up for him in a few days.
On the way to the airport, Cole planned on calling V.J. and asking him to have a small airplane and pilot waiting for them. He would also have V.J. create new I.D.’s for them so they could fly out of Phoenix down to Costa Rica. V.J. owed Cole a lot, and this would more than make them even now.
Cole left a pack of money hidden in Joe’s refrigerator and they left Joe’s home as the sun was just coming up. They got into his pickup truck and started it, then drove down the long and rutted trail away from his place. They passed the pickup truck they had stolen and driven here. Cole maneuvered around the truck carefully on the hard-packed dirt, and then they drove away, leaving it behind.
