The God Project

by John Saul

  A horn honked, pulling Randy out of his reverie, and he realized he was alone on the block. He looked at the watch his father had given him for his ninth birthday. It was nearly eight thirty. If he didn’t hurry, he was going to be late for school. Then he heard a voice calling to him.

  “Randy! Randy Corliss!”

  A blue car, a car he didn’t recognize, was standing by the curb. A woman was smiling at him from the driver’s seat. He approached the car hesitantly, clutching his lunch box.

  “Hi, Randy,” the woman said.

  “Who are you?” Randy stood back from the car, remembering his mother’s warnings about never talking to strangers.

  “My name’s Miss Bowen. Louise Bowen. I came to get you.”

  “Get me?” Randy asked. “Why?”

  “For your father,” the woman said. Randy’s heart beat faster. His father? His father had sent this woman? Was it really going to happen, finally? “He wanted me to pick you up at home,” he heard the woman say, “but I was late. I’m sorry.”

  “That’s all right,” Randy said. He moved closer to the car. “Are you taking me to Daddy’s house?”

  The woman reached across and pushed the passenger door open. “In a little while,” she promised. “Get in.”

  Randy knew he shouldn’t get in the car, knew he should turn around and run to the nearest house, looking for help. It was things like this—strangers offering to give you a ride—that his mother had talked to him about ever since he was a little boy.

  But this was different. This was a friend of his father’s. Her brown eyes were twinkling at him, and her smile made him feel like she was sharing an adventure with him. He made up his mind and got into the car, pulling the door closed behind him. The car moved away from the curb.

  “Where are we going?” Randy asked.

  Louise Bowen glanced over at the boy sitting expectantly on the seat beside her. He was every bit as attractive as the pictures she had been shown, his eyes almost green, with dark, wavy hair framing his pugnacious, snub-nosed face. His body was sturdy, and though she was a stranger to him, he didn’t seem to be the least bit frightened of her. Instinctively, Louise liked Randy Corliss.

  “We’re going to your new school.”

  Randy frowned. New school? If he was going to a new school, why wasn’t his father taking him? The woman seemed to hear him, even though he hadn’t spoken out loud.

  “You’ll see your father very soon. But for a few days, until he gets everything worked out with your mother, you’ll be staying at the school. You’ll like it there,” she promised. “It’s a special school, just for little boys like you, and you’ll have lots of new friends. Doesn’t that sound exciting?”

  Randy nodded uncertainly, no longer sure he should have gotten in the car. Still, when he thought about it, it made sense. His father had told him there would be lots of problems when the time came for him to move away from his mother’s. And his father had told him he would be going to a new school. And today was the day.

  Randy settled down in the seat and glanced out the window. They were heading out of Eastbury on the road toward Längsten. That was where his father lived, so everything was all right.

  Except that it didn’t quite feel all right. Deep inside, Randy had a strange sense of something being very wrong.

  For two very different families haunted by very similar fears, THE GOD PROJECT has only just begun to work its lethal conspiracy of silence and fear. And for the reader, John Saul has produced a mind-numbing tale of evil unchecked.

  NATHANIEL

  Prairie Bend: brilliant summers amid golden fields, killing winters of razorlike cold. A peaceful, neighborly village, darkened by legends of death … legends of Nathaniel. Some residents say he is simply a folk tale, others swear he is a terrifying spirit. And soon—very soon—some will come to believe that Nathaniel lives …

  Shivering, Michael set himself a destination now and began walking along the edges of the pastures, the woods on his right, climbing each fence as he came to it. Sooner than he would have expected, the woods curved away to the right, following the course of the river as it deviated from its southeastern flow to curl around the village. Ahead of him he could see the scattered twinkling lights of Prairie Bend. For a moment, he considered going into the village, but then, as he looked off to the southeast, he changed his mind, for there, seeming almost to glow in the moonlight, was the hulking shape of Findley’s barn.

  That, Michael knew, was where he was going.

  He cut diagonally across the field, then darted across the deserted highway and into another field. He moved quickly now, feeling exposed in the emptiness with the full moon shining down on him. Ten minutes later he had crossed the field and come once more to the highway, this time as it emerged from the village. Across the street, he could see Ben Findley’s driveway and, at its end, the little house, and the barn.

  He considered trying to go down the driveway and around the house, but quickly abandoned the idea. A light showed dimly from behind a curtained window, and he had a sudden vision of old man Findley, his gun cradled in his arms, standing in silhouette at the front door.

  His progress slowed as he plunged into the weed-choked pastures that lay between the house and the river, but he was determined to stay away from the fence separating Findley’s property from their own until the old man’s barn could conceal him from the same man’s prying eyes. It wasn’t until he was near the river that he finally felt safe enough to slip between the strands of barbed wire that fenced off the Findley property and begin doubling back toward the barn that had become his goal.

  He could feel it now, feel the strange sense of familiarity he had felt that afternoon, only it was stronger here, pulling him forward through the night. He didn’t try to resist it, though there was something vaguely frightening about it. Frightening but exciting. There was a sense of discovery, almost a sense of memory. And his headache, the throbbing pain that had been with him all evening, was gone.

  He came up to the barn and paused. There should be a door just around the corner, a door with a bar on it. He didn’t understand how he knew it was there, for he’d never seen that side of the barn, but he knew.

  Around the corner, just as he knew it would be, he found the door, held securely shut by a heavy wooden beam resting in a pair of wrought-iron brackets. Without hesitation, Michael lifted the bar out of its brackets and propped it carefully against the wall. As he pulled the door open, no squeaking hinges betrayed his presence. Though the barn was nearly pitch dark inside, it wasn’t the kind of eerie darkness the woods by the river had held, at least not for Michael. For Michael, it was an inviting darkness.

  He stepped into the barn.

  He waited, half expectantly, as the darkness seeped into him, enveloping him within its folds. And then something reached out of the darkness and touched him.

  Nathaniel’s call to Michael Hall, who has just lost his father in a tragic accident, draws the boy further into the barn and under his spell. There—and beyond—Michael will faithfully follow Nathaniel’s voice to the edge of terror.

  BRAINCHILD

  One hundred years ago in La Paloma a terrible deed was done, and a cry for vengeance pierced the night. Now, that evil still lives, and that vengeance waits … waits for Alex Lonsdale, one of the most popular boys in La Paloma. Because horrible things can happen—even to nice kids like Alex …

  Alex jockeyed the Mustang around Bob Carey’s Porsche, then put it in drive and gunned the engine. The rear wheels spun on the loose gravel for a moment, then caught, and the car shot forward, down the Evanses’ driveway and into Hacienda Drive.

  Alex wasn’t sure how long Lisa had been walking—it seemed as though it had taken him forever to get dressed and search the house. She could be almost home by now.

  He pressed the accelerator, and the car picked up speed. He hugged the wall of the ravine on the first curve, but the car fishtailed slightly, and he had to steer into the skid to regai
n control. Then he hit a straight stretch and pushed his speed up to seventy. Coming up fast was an S curve that was posted at thirty miles an hour, but he knew they always left a big margin for safety. He slowed to sixty as he started into the first turn.

  And then he saw her.

  She was standing on the side of the road, her green dress glowing brightly in his headlights, staring at him with terrified eyes.

  Or did he just imagine that? Was he already that close to her?

  Time suddenly slowed down, and he slammed his foot on the brake.

  Too late. He was going to hit her.

  It would have been all right if she’d been on the inside of the curve. He’d have swept around her, and she’d have been safe. But now he was skidding right toward her …

  Turn into it. He had to turn into it!

  Taking his foot off the brake, he steered to the right, and suddenly felt the tires grab the pavement.

  Lisa was only a few yards away.

  And beyond Lisa, almost lost in the darkness, something else.

  A face, old and wrinkled, framed with white hair. And the eyes in the face were glaring at him with an intensity he could almost feel.

  It was the face that finally made him lose all control of the car.

  An ancient, weathered face, a face filled with an unspeakable loathing, looming in the darkness.

  At the last possible moment, he wrenched the wheel to the left, and the Mustang responded, slewing around Lisa, charging across the pavement, leading for the ditch and the wall of the ravine beyond.

  Straighten it out!

  He spun the wheel the other way.

  Too far.

  The car burst through the guardrail and hurtled over the edge of the ravine.

  “Lisaaaa …”

  Now Alex needs a miracle and thanks to a brilliant doctor, Alex comes back from the brink of death. He seems the same, but in his heart there is a coldness. And if his friends and family could see inside his brain, they would be terrified ….

  HELLFIRE

  Pity the dead … one hundred years ago eleven innocent lives were taken in afire that raged through the mill. That day the iron doors slammed shut—forever. Now, the powerful Sturgiss family of the sleepy town of Westover, Massachusetts is about to unlock those doors to the past. Now comes the time to pray for the living.

  The silence of the building seemed to gather around her, and slowly Beth felt the beginnings of fear.

  And then she began to feel something else.

  Once again, she felt that strange certainty that the mill was not empty.

  “D-Daddy?” she called softly, stepping through the door. “Are you here?”

  She felt a slight trickle of sweat begin to slide down her spine, and fought a sudden trembling in her knees.

  Then, as she listened to the silence, she heard something.

  A rustling sound, from up above.

  Beth froze, her heart pounding.

  And then she heard it again.

  She looked up.

  With a sudden burst of flapping wings, a pigeon took off from one of the rafters, circled, then soared out through a gap between the boards over one of the windows.

  Beth stood still, waiting for her heartbeat to calm. As she looked around, her eyes fixed on the top of a stairwell at the far end of the building.

  He was downstairs. That’s why he hasn’t heard her. He was down in the basement.

  Resolutely, she started across the vast emptiness of the building. As she reached the middle of the floor, she felt suddenly exposed, and had an urge to run.

  But there was nothing to be afraid of. There was nothing in the mill except herself, and some birds.

  And downstairs, her father.

  After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the top of the stairs, and peered uncertainly into the darkness below.

  Her own shadow preceded her down the steep flight of steps, and only a little spilled over the staircase to illuminate the nearer parts of the vast basement.

  “Daddy?” Beth whispered. But the sound was so quiet, even she could barely hear it.

  And then there was something else, coming on the heels of her own voice.

  Another sound, fainter than the one her own voice had made, coming from below.

  Something was moving in the darkness.

  Once again Beth’s heart began to pound, but she remained where she was, forcing back the panic that threatened to overcome her.

  Finally, when she heard nothing more, she moved slowly down the steps, until she could place a foot on the basement floor.

  She listened, and after a moment, as the darkness began closing in on her, the sound repeated itself.

  Panic surged through her. All her instincts told her to run, to flee back up the stairs and out into the daylight. But when she tried to move, her legs refused to obey her, and she remained where she was, paralyzed.

  Once again the sound came. This time, though it was almost inaudible, Beth thought she recognized a word.

  “Beeetthh …”

  Her name. It was as if someone had called her name.

  “D-Daddy?” she whispered again. “Daddy, is that you?”

  There was another silence, and Beth strained once more to see into the darkness surrounding her.

  In the distance, barely visible, she thought she could see a flickering of light.

  And then she froze, her voice strangling as the sound came again, like a winter wind sighing in the trees.

  “Aaaammmyyyy …”

  Beth gazed fearfully into the blackness for several long seconds. Then, when the sound was not repeated, her panic began to subside. At last she was able to speak again, though her voice still trembled. “Is someone there?”

  In the far distance, the light flickered again, and she heard something else.

  Footsteps, approaching out of the darkness.

  The seconds crept by, and the light bobbed nearer.

  And once more, the whispering voice, barely audible, danced around her.

  “Aaaammmyy …”

  For Beth Rogers, the voice seems like a nightmare, yet not even a little girl’s fears can imagine the unearthly fury that awaits her in the old, deserted mill. Soon all of Westover will be prey to the forces of darkness that wait beyond those padlocked doors.

  THE UNWANTED

  Cassie Winslow, lonely and frightened, has come to False Harbor, Cape Cod to live with her father—whom she barely knows—and his family. For Cassie, the strange, unsettling dreams that come to her suddenly are merely the beginning … for very soon, Cassie will come to know the terrifying powers that are her gift.

  Cassie awoke in the blackness of the hours before dawn, her heart thumping, her skin damp with a cold sweat that made her shiver. For a moment she didn’t know where she was. Then, as she listened to the unfamiliar sound of surf pounding in the distance, the dream began to fade away, and she remembered where she was.

  She was in False Harbor, and this was where she lived now. In the room next to her, her stepsister was asleep, and down the hall her father was in bed with her stepmother.

  Then why did she feel so alone?

  It was the dream, of course.

  It had come to her again in the night. Again she had seen the strange woman who should have been her mother but was not.

  Again, as Cassie watched in horror, the car burst into flames, and Cassie, vaguely aware that she was in a dream, had expected to wake up, as she had each time the nightmare had come to her.

  This time, though she wanted to turn and run, she stood where she was, watching the car burn.

  This time there had been no laughter shrieking from the woman’s lips, no sound of screams, no noise at all. The flames had risen from the car in an eerie silence, and then, just as Cassie was about to turn away, the stranger had suddenly emerged from the car.

  Clad in black, the figure had stood perfectly still, untouched by the flames that raged around her. Slowly, she raised one hand. Her lips
moved and a single word drifted over the crowded freeway, came directly to Cassie’s ears over the faceless mass of people streaming by in their cars.

  “Cassandra …”

  The silence of the dream was shattered then by the blaring of a horn and the screaming of tires skidding on pavement.

  Cassie looked up just in time to see a truck bearing down on her, the enormous grill of its radiator only inches from her face.

  As the truck smashed into her she woke up, her own scream of terror choked in her throat.

  Her heartbeat began to slow, and her shivering stopped. Now the room seemed to close in on her, and she found it hard to breathe. Slipping out of bed, she crossed to the window at the far end of the narrow room and lifted it open. As she was about to go back to bed, a movement in the darkness outside caught her eye.

  She looked down into the cemetery on the other side of the back fence. At first she saw nothing. Then she sensed the movement again, and a dark figure came into view. Clad in black, perfectly silent, a woman stood in the shadows cast by the headstones.

  Time seemed to suspend itself.

  And then the figure raised one hand. Once more Cassie heard a single word drift almost inaudibly above the pounding of the surf from the beach a few blocks away.

  “Cassandra …”

  Cassie remained where she was, her eyes closed as she strained to recapture the sound of her name, but now there was only the pulsing drone of the surf. And when she reopened her eyes a few seconds later and looked once more into the graveyard, she saw nothing.

  The strange figure that had stepped out of the shadows was gone.

  She went back to her bed and pulled the covers close around her. For a long time she lay still, wondering if perhaps she’d only imagined it all.

  Perhaps she hadn’t even left the bed, and had only dreamed that she’d seen the woman in the graveyard.