by James Axler
* * *
DOC WAS FILLED with blazing white light as he ran toward the roaring behemoth.
The fizzing in the back of his head had gone through the usual stages, moving into his eyes and out through his body, making everything he saw turn yellow, then becoming a loud crackling, followed by waves of warmth…and finally the white light, pointing the way to the next transformation of the Shift.
With the certainty of a shifter mutie, he knew exactly where the next major change was going to strike. When he looked there, at that piece of ground some fifty yards due south, he knew exactly what it was going to become. He saw a map, a cross-section in his mind, and he knew without a doubt that it was accurate.
He also knew it would be the perfect answer to the problem of the rampaging creature. He just had to get it to go there without getting stomped to death in the process.
When Doc got to within twenty yards of the monster, he stopped and called out to it, “Hey! Hey, you, big fellow!” He jumped up and down, waving his arms and trying to attract its attention.
Even as he did it, going against his nature in courting danger, he couldn’t help marveling in the back of his mind. If someone had told him, back before the abduction, that he would someday be doing what he was doing, he probably would have laughed at them.
But now there he was, alone and unarmed, facing off against a monster many times his own size.
“Hey! Look here! I am down here!” When the creature completely ignored him, Doc ran in circles in front of it, shouting louder. “Hey, you!”
The creature raised one mammoth foot and brought it down. Doc scrambled out of the way, and the creature took another step forward without looking down at him.
“Hey!” Doc darted back out in front of the monster, still waving and calling to no avail. The behemoth was still ignoring him.
Then, suddenly, it wasn’t so oblivious anymore. Blasterfire erupted from nearby, and the monster roared in outrage as a wave of bullets pelted it.
Looking in the direction of the shooting, Doc felt a burst of relief and hope. Running toward him with guns blazing were the friends he hadn’t seen in days, his traveling companions in the Deathlands.
They were racing to help him. Their timing couldn’t have been any better.
But there still wasn’t any time to waste. He knew from the way the white light was surging that the transformation he expected was about to occur. “Come on!” he shouted, waving for them to follow him. “Drive it this way! This way!”
He didn’t have to tell them twice. The team peppered the creature with rounds, blowing apart a host of the mutie bodies bound to its enormous form. But instead of moving away from the blasterfire, the monstrosity lumbered toward it.
“Around the other side!” Doc shouted, though he didn’t need to say it. His teammates already had the right idea.
Splitting up, they sprinted around the creature, ducking and weaving to avoid its stomping feet and swinging fists. Doc went with them, staying focused on the goal.
Once the team had circled to the other side of the beast, Ryan gave the order to fire, and they all cut loose. Instantly, the creature swung around, enraged by the weapons fire, and unleashed its loudest roar yet. Then it thundered toward them, punishing the ground with its gargantuan footsteps.
Ryan and the others ran and fired, ran and fired, drawing the beast ever onward. It was a deadly game, to say the least; one slip or misstep and any of them could be instantly crushed by a monstrous footfall plunging from above.
But soon they didn’t have much farther to go, or much longer to shoot. Their destination, where the transformation foreseen by Doc was about to occur, was less than twenty yards away.
“Almost there!” Doc shouted. “Keep going!”
Up ahead, his Shift-attuned eyes saw the site of the change as a glowing circular area, approximately a hundred feet in diameter. The white light inside him, stoked to new heights, told him the place was nearly ready to transform.
The trick now would be to get the creature onto the target and get Doc’s friends far enough away from it that they wouldn’t share its fate.
“Come on! Come on!” Compelled by the urgency of the impending change, Doc ran those last twenty yards as fast as he could. Then he crossed the threshold, and his feet were pumping over what he saw as glowing sand, carrying him toward the center of the target.
Looking back, he saw his companions racing toward him, followed by the raging monstrosity. They kept running and shooting, pulling it toward the target like a bull toward a bullfighter’s red cape.
When Doc reached the middle of the target, he stopped and faced his friends. “Right here! Bring it right here and then scatter!”
Then, as Ryan and the others crossed the boundary of the target zone and rushed toward him, Doc ran for the far side. He didn’t stop until he reached the edge, and then he spun to watch what happened next.
Ryan and his team drew the creature farther, ever farther—halfway to the center, then farther still. Together, they kept up a constant barrage of blasterfire; if anyone needed to reload, the others filled the gap for their companion.
As Doc watched from the edge, the white light flared within him. Just like before, he felt as if it burned away his body, leaving his essence shivering like a single blade of grass in a flood, like a single candle flame in a windstorm.
He hung there a moment, feeling formless, thoughtless, weightless, watching as his friends finally drew the leviathan to the dead center of the target zone. Just as he’d asked, they quickly scattered, fanning out around the creature, peppering it with continuous blasterfire.
Attacked from all directions, the creature couldn’t make its mind up which way to turn next. It roared in what sounded like bestial frustration, thrashing its enormous head at the silver disk of the full moon.
Suddenly, Doc felt as if his body had coalesced around him once more. His focus sharpened, his strength intensified, his thoughts clarified. He knew, as always happened at this stage, that the transformation would happen at any instant. He could feel it percolating under the surface; he could see it coiling and building, getting ready to blow.
“Go!” he roared at the top of his lungs. “Everyone run! Get out of there now!”
Casting back intermittent fire to keep the creature confused, Ryan and the others ran from the center of the target zone in every direction. The creature thrashed and roared and shrieked behind them, staying put, just as Doc had hoped.
And then it didn’t. Suddenly, it started stomping after J.B., perhaps because his Mini-Uzi laid down the most fire.
“Run, J.B.! Faster!” Doc shouted, fists clenched in suspense. “Go! Go! Go!”
J.B. stopped shooting and leaned into his run, pouring on every bit of speed he could summon. Arms and legs pumping, he charged toward the edge of the target zone, racing to freedom.
At the same time, the creature stomped after him, roaring for his blood. And Doc could see the energies of the Shift roiling under the sand, about to reshape the landscape according to the neon map in his head.
Doc’s heart thundered in his chest as he watched. “Please. Oh, please.” He said it softly, like a prayer. “Please do not let me lose one of them now, after I have finally gotten them back.”
J.B. kept running, and the creature kept chasing him. The target zone tensed, building up to whatever was coming next.
All around the zone, the other members of the team made it to safety. Only J.B. remained within the perimeter marked by Doc’s Shift-sensitized vision.
“Please,” Doc whispered. “Please let him live.”
Suddenly, the target zone transformed. A blast of light consumed the area, so bright it blinded Doc.
He heard the creature roar, releasing a deafening howl. He heard a sound like the tinkling of glass amplified a thousandfold. And then the roar was cut off and only the glassy tinkling remained.
By the time that sound faded, too, Doc finally regained his eyesight. The whiten
ess that had drowned out everything else in his range of vision drifted away like dissipating fog.
It was then he was able to see what had become of the creature. It yet remained within the target zone, but it was sealed away from the outside world, locked inside the base of a pyramid of glittering crystal. The monster had been contained, and probably killed.
The pyramid blocked Doc from seeing what had happened to J.B., though. Frantic, Doc ran along the perimeter of what had been the target zone, looking for some sign of his friend.
Had J.B. been caught in the crystallization process? Was he trapped inside with the creature? Or had the creature managed to crush him at the last second, just before the transformation had occurred?
Doc prepared himself for the worst, even as he came upon another of his comrades.
“Doc!” Ricky spread his arms wide. “Dios mio, it’s good to see you!”
Doc ran past him. “Where is he? Where in Jehovah’s name is he?”
“Where’s who?” Ricky ran alongside him. “Who’re you looking for?”
“J.B.! Did he get out? Did he make it in time?”
Just as he said it, they turned a corner of the pyramid and saw Mildred.
“My dear Mildred! Where is he? Where’s J.B.?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I was just going to look for him.”
Doc ran past her without another word. His stomach twisted, and feverish chills swept through his body. Had he lost someone after all?
After rounding the next corner of the pyramid, he and Ricky—and Mildred, who’d joined them—came across Jak, who was lying on his back on the ground.
“Jak!” Doc cried. “Where’s J.B.?”
“Hey, Doc,” Jak said. “Glad finally found you.”
Doc, Ricky and Mildred kept running. After the next corner, they spotted Ryan and Krysty.
“Good to see you, Doc.” Krysty mustered a smile, but she looked bad. Whatever she’d been through since Doc had last seen her had taken a toll.
Ryan was keeping her upright with an arm around her back. “Glad to have you back in one piece, Doc,” he said.
“J.B. Where is he?” Doc asked.
Ryan shrugged, and Krysty shook her head.
Doc and the others moved on to the fourth corner. But when they turned it, there was no one up ahead.
Doc stopped running and slumped. “Blessed heavens.” His head was spinning. He’d been around the entire pyramid, and J.B. was nowhere to be found.
Mildred stepped up and touched the back of a hand to his forehead. “You’re looking pretty pale there, Doc. Why don’t you sit down?”
“We have lost him.” Doc wagged his head slowly as harsh reality settled in. “He must have gotten caught in the transformation.”
“Who’s that?”
Doc looked up, all misery fled. He instantly recognized that voice.
“So who got caught?” J.B. shook the sand off his fedora.
“You, my dear J.B. At least I thought so,” Doc said, relief evident in his voice. “I could not find you anywhere.”
“Because I was off doing something nice for you.” J.B. held out Doc’s sword. “But if you don’t want this, I’ll find someone who does.”
Doc smiled and accepted the sword, which the Armorer handed to him. “Of course I want it.”
“Union dropped it when Ryan shot her,” J.B. explained. “I just ran over to pick it up for you before some mutie got hold of it. Had to wipe some blood off the top, but it looks good as new.”
“Ryan’s got the sheath,” Ricky added. “He found it in that ginormous mat-trans in the redoubt.”
“Good to know.” Doc nodded as he gazed at the silver lion’s head, fighting to hold back a tear.
“Your blaster’s over there somewhere, too.” J.B. gestured at the sandy ground between the pyramid and the core. “Not sure exactly where.”
“Yes, well…” Doc still felt that tear fighting to get out.
“Thought we ought to get your gear back,” J.B. added, “now that we’ve got you back, finally.”
“Many thanks.” Doc started to reach for a handshake, then stopped. “It is good to be back, my friends.” Then he couldn’t hold that tear back anymore, or the ones that came after it.
And he couldn’t hold himself back from hugging J.B.—and then each of the others, one by one—either. He was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t even notice the earthquakes had finally stopped.
Chapter Fifty-Six
“Get lost, you bunch of idiots,” Hammersmith said as he flicked a spent marijuana roach onto the sand in front of the not-so-secret front door of the core redoubt. “I’m sick to death of lookin’ at your faces.”
“Don’t worry, Dr. H.” Krysty threw her arms around him and gave him a hug. “We love you, too.”
Hammersmith rolled his eyes. “Get the fuck off me,” he snarled, but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to break off the hug.
The rest of the companions went on loading their gear into the wag they’d commandeered from the redoubt. It had been two days since the battle of the core, and they were finally recovered from the ordeal and ready to move on.
The wag wasn’t much, just a weathered Humvee from what was left of the redoubt’s motor pool, but it would be better than marching on foot. The dome light shone like a little beacon in the gritty gray predawn glow, flashing to life every time someone opened a door.
“You sure this bucket of bolts will get us where we’re going?” J.B. asked as he heaved a crate of MREs and canned goods in the back.
“Out of the Shift? Hell yes.” Hammersmith managed a grateful nod to Krysty as she ended the hug. “But if you keep up your bitching about the wag, I’ll toss the keys and let you walk.”
“Other Doc not talk like that.” Jak grinned as he loaded ammo boxes in the back. “Good thing you stay here.”
Hammersmith flipped him the bird. “You couldn’t pay me enough to come along with you bastards.”
“Good!” Jak snapped. “Not invited!”
Everyone laughed.
Ryan started the engine and let the Humvee idle while they finished loading. The sun was just rising, and the companions wanted to get an early start.
That sunrise, in fact, was of particular interest to Doc. He stood apart from the others and watched it in progress, admiring the pink, orange and gold colors of the wispy chem clouds drifting over the horizon.
Ryan walked over to join him. For a moment, neither man said a word; they just let the stately movement flow before them, clouds and sun and planet ticking along like some magnificent cosmic clockwork.
Ryan was the one who finally broke the silence. “Krysty says she’s all clear. No more headaches.”
Doc nodded. “Good.” Sometime after the defeat of Union and her creature, Hammersmith had shut down the modified mat-trans unit. He’d trashed it, making sure it could never be switched on again. Since then, the Shift had stopped shifting. No more transformations, meaning no more early warnings for Krysty or Doc…so far anyway.
“So how’re you doing?” Ryan asked. “Shaking it off, I hope?”
Doc sighed. “Of course, my dear Ryan. What choice do I have?”
“Same as the rest of us.” Ryan put a hand on Doc’s shoulder. “Same as every other morning. Survive or die.”
“Agreed.” Doc watched as the sun bobbed up over the horizon, appearing in full for the first time that day. How many other sunrises would he see in this life of his? Not many, perhaps, given the deadly lands he was traversing. Yet, somehow, that made each one all the sweeter.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Ryan gave Doc’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re here to share it with us again.”
“There have been times, you know.” Doc frowned. “Times when I have wished my life was…otherwise. When I would rather have been anywhere else but here.” He cleared his throat softly. “Or nowhere at all.”
Ryan nodded. “I know the feeling.”
“But now…” Doc hesitated, considering his words. “I was given a choice. Be a victim, resign myself or fight to get back to my friends.” He nodded over his shoulder at the rest of the companions, working at the Humvee. “And I fought, Ryan. I fought my way back, because I realized this is worth fighting for.” He reached out a hand. “We are worth fighting for.”
Ryan took that hand and shook it. “Damn straight.”
“I would still give anything, you know,” Doc said quietly, “to have them back. My wife and children. But I would give anything to have this family back, as well.” He released Ryan’s hand and turned to watch his comrades loading the wag, their shared moment over.
As families went, the companions had their occasional disagreements; they didn’t always enjoy one another’s company.
But when one was hurt, the others rallied to help him or her. And when Doc dwelled too long on the nightmare his life had become, on the people and things he had lost because of fate’s cruel vagaries, his companions did the very best thing they could do for him.
They made him laugh. They helped him forget. They kept him human in a world full of inhumanity.
Sometimes it helped to be reminded.
“Looks as though they’re almost done packing the wag,” Ryan said. “What do you say we get the hell out of here, Doc?”
“Where to? Where are we headed?”
“The redoubt from our last jump, mebbe.” Ryan shrugged. “Away from here, that’s all I know for sure. Anywhere else will be better.”
“My dear Ryan, I would follow you to the gates of hell. Lay on, Macduff!”
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460385364
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Robert Jeschonek for his contribution to this work.
