Thaw (Night Fall ™)

by Richard Reece

  Trey jumped forward and put a strong arm around me as we sank into the swirling sand like stones in a giant hourglass. For a minute, darkness closed around us. Then, suddenly, we were standing on a concrete floor in a windowless cell with one lightbulb on the wall.

  There was a door at the end of the room. We both ran to it, but it was locked. The paw was motionless. “Whose friend are you?” I said to it. “You’re supposed to help us find Jake. Instead we’re trapped like—”

  “Rats!” Trey said, and I turned to see hundreds of them scampering out of the shadows toward us. Trey grabbed me and held me up in the air while the rodents attacked his legs, squealing and biting. He was doing his best to kick them away, but they were gaining ground. I was wondering how long he could protect his feet when I heard the sound of rushing water.

  The rats squealed louder as torrents of cold water began filling the room. It rushed in from pipes somewhere in the shadows. I broke loose from Trey. In a few minutes the water was at chest level. Then the light shorted out. The rats were frantic, climbing on top of one another to escape drowning. One big one jumped on my head, and I slapped it off. Trey fought another one away from his face.

  With six inches of airspace left, I had an idea. We had tried to force the door, forgetting what Vincent had said about Scatter’s illusions. This time I grabbed the paw, took a deep breath, and dove underwater. I swam in the blackness toward what I hoped was the door. When I felt the handle, I touched it with the paw. I felt a little buzz of energy, grabbed the handle, and turned. It moved, but the door opened inward. The water in the room was pressing too hard against it for me make it budge.

  Then I felt Trey behind me. He pulled on the door with all his might, and a crack opened. I could feel the water trying to rush out. I pulled off one of my shoes and jammed it in the space. Then Trey and I raced up for air.

  The water slowly drained away. The rats vanished. Trey looked at me as if to say, “Are you okay?” I nodded.

  Then we turned toward the door, where a man in a hood was standing. He gestured to us to follow and then went up a stone stairway. We came out in the middle of the campground.

  The hooded man turned away and walked in the direction of the building with the cross. We started to follow, but he turned and shook his head before going in. I saw now that the cross had been altered from the one that had probably been there when Rock of Ages was operating. This cross was upside down.

  A minute later we heard a voice that seemed to be coming through a loudspeaker. It sounded like an old man, tired and slow, his breathing heavy.

  “Welcome, my children, to our evening gathering. As we begin, join your hands with each other and your minds with mine. For my thoughts are yours and yours are mine.” He paused. “Tonight’s reading is from the Book of Going Forth by Day.”

  Then another voice read: “The king rises into the heavens among the gods dwelling there. He sits on the great throne and decides the affairs of men. He gives you his arm and leads you into the sky.”

  I gripped Trey’s arm so hard that he winced.

  “What is it?” he whispered.

  “The voice,” I said through tears. “It’s Jake.”

  10

  I don’t remember much about the next hour. The old man preached. From the way he called himself “God’s chosen” and all, I guessed it was Scatter. The other memorable thing was how hard it seemed for him to speak at all. Otherwise, all I could think about was Jake. He was right here!

  It was still dark when the sermon ended, although it must have been nearly morning. Trey and I ducked behind a shed just as the door of the church—or whatever it was— opened. Light streamed out, and several dozen of the hoods emerged. Jake may have been among them; I couldn’t tell. They all headed for the E-shaped building on the other side of the swimming pool.

  I felt the paw move. It was stretching toward the door the worshippers had just passed through. Trey and I walked to the door and entered a kind of foyer, like you’d see in a church. Then we went through one more door into just what you’d expect: rows of seats and an altar and pulpit in front. Above everything was a large, blank screen.

  I’d never felt this frustrated. To be so close! The paw was still. It seemed to be right where it wanted to be. Suddenly the lights went off and the screen lit up. And there, looking at me, was my best friend. He was dressed in a long white robe and a round cap with a flat top.

  “Dani,” he said formally. “Welcome. Your friend?”

  “Jake!” I yelled. “What the hell is going on here? Are you all right?!”

  He smiled. A weird, ugly smile. “I’m . . . wonderful!” And then, “Why are you here?”

  “Why am I here? I came to rescue you, to get you and your parents away from this Scatter guy! To get you back to Bridgewater! Vincent brought me your message . . .”

  “My message. I believe I told you that I cared for you, and I was sorry we wouldn’t see each other again. Of course there was much I didn’t know then, but I don’t recall asking you to come after me.”

  I was trying really hard to keep it together. I was afraid if I said anything more I’d start crying.

  Jake blinked. “Your friend?”

  “Trey Little,” Trey said. “Dani didn’t invite me, but I wanted to help her find you.”

  “Well, thank you,” Jake said. “I’m sorry there wasn’t any need. My father says you were both very brave. You passed many tests. He believes you were seeking to join our community.”

  “What does your father have to do with all this?”

  “My father knows all. Scatter knows all.”

  “Jake, what are you talking about? Are you saying Scatter is your father?”

  “Yes. That’s why Philip betrayed him. Philip knew my mother had lain with Scatter. When he realized I was the result of that union, jealousy hardened his heart. He handed Scatter over to the police, then took my pregnant mother with him to the Middle East.”

  “When did you find out about this?”

  “When I got here. Funny, I came looking for my parents and learned who my real parents were. That my real father is the Anointed One.”

  I felt completely empty. I was losing my best friend all over again to this insanity. Trey put a hand on my shoulder.

  “You both must be exhausted,” the Jake-thing said. “Someone will come in a moment and take you to your rooms. See that you get something to eat, clean clothes. Dani, I’ll meet with you in the morning.” The screen blinked off.

  I lost it then. My shoulders started to shake, and I sobbed against Trey’s chest. He held on to me until I could recover a little.

  “Look, Dani,” he said, “Jake—”

  “That’s not Jake!” I shouted at him.

  “Exactly. This is a cult, Dani. Jake has bought into it. That doesn’t mean you’ve lost him forever.”

  “But he says he’s happy here!” I started to cry again.

  “I know, I know. I have an aunt who joined a cult when she was sixteen. She disappeared for two years. When her parents finally found her, they actually had to kidnap her to get her home. And she kept trying to go back. It was almost a year before she turned back into the person they knew. Today she’s a soccer mom.”

  The door to the lobby opened. Two people in hoods, apparently a man and a woman, stood waiting for us.

  11

  The hooded couple led us to the flat building where we’d seen the worshippers go earlier. Inside was a small room with some sort of reception desk. Doors on either side, labeled MEN and WOMEN, led to separate living quarters.

  I squeezed Trey’s hand and followed my attendant. The hall was just like you’d find in a college dorm. The woman showed me to a room. It was spare but clean, with a bed and a chair and a desk. She handed me towels and fresh clothes, then motioned for me to follow her. The bathroom and showers were at the end of the hall.

  The place was cold, as if someone had the air conditioning going full blast, and the hottest I could get the wat
er was still only warm. I wasn’t about to complain, though. I scrubbed and soaked for a good twenty minutes before I finally began to feel clean. My heart was still aching, but I decided to set it aside until I saw Jake again. The clean clothing the woman had given me was, of course, a white robe with a hood. I wrapped my own stuff in a towel and took it to my room. On the desk was a turkey sandwich wrapped in cellophane, a bag of chips, a chocolate chip cookie, and a very cold can of soda.

  I wanted to go to sleep instantly, to turn off the conversation with Jake like a light and put off all feeling till tomorrow. But I passed the night more like someone with a fever. Bad dreams alternated with painful moments of being awake. The worst dream started with the sound of crying.

  There, standing in the corner of my room, was a girl of twelve or so. She was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt that said “Amazing Grace.” She was rocking and sobbing, covering her face in her arms.

  I got up and crouched down to where she was. “What’s the matter, honey?” I asked.

  She jumped at the sound of my voice, but when she saw me she threw her arms around my neck and started crying even harder. Her body was cold and wet. I held her, not knowing what to say.

  Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was a woman with white hair. She stared at me as if to say, “Can I help?” Then I noticed blood all over the front of her dress. A man was behind her, also old and also trying to comfort the girl. The top of his head was missing.

  Then I was aware of the dead smell that had surrounded Trey and me the night before. The door of my room slowly opened, and I expected to see drowned children crowding in. Instead, a tall, black-haired man loomed in the doorway. His face was blurred, the way they blur a person’s face on TV when they want to disguise him, and his voice was distorted.

  The old couple cringed behind me as the tall man ordered the girl, “Come with me. Now.” The girl held me even tighter, but the man took her arm and began dragging her toward the door. I held on as tight as I could. Then there was a cracking sound, and the room was empty. The door was closed. In my hand I held the girl’s severed arm.

  Early in the morning a bell started ringing outside. I heard shuffling in the hall. I supposed Scatter’s followers were going to their morning worship service. When the dorm was quiet again, I headed for the lobby. I saw a lone hooded figure standing outside. I hesitated for a moment until I realized it was Trey. I ran to him and we hugged hard.

  “How was your night?” he asked.

  “Not great.” I wanted to tell him about my dream, but I didn’t know where to start. “How about yours?”

  “Cold,” he said.

  “I noticed that.”

  “And those imaginary rats? Check out these imaginary rat bites.” He lifted the hem of his robe to show me a leg covered with red cuts and splotches.

  “Trey!”

  “It’s okay.”

  “I didn’t thank you for lifting me up down there,” I said.

  “Not a problem.” He smiled. “Anything from Jake?”

  “Not yet. I think everyone’s gone to church, or whatever they call it.”

  We made small talk like that for an hour or so. Somewhere I could hear Scatter’s voice droning through the loudspeaker. I was grateful that Trey kept me from thinking too much about what was coming up.

  Then the hoods began returning. One of them, perhaps the woman who’d attended me the night before, walked up and gestured for me to follow her. Trey fell in next to me, but she pointed at him and shook her head.

  “It’s all right, Trey,” I said. “Catch up with you later.”

  The woman led me to a high double door at the front of the lodge. As we got closer the door swung open. It closed behind us as we stepped into a small lobby with an elevator on one side. The other side opened into a big dining room. I tried to see the woman’s face, but her hood was pulled forward and she seemed to avoid my glance. I did see her hands, though. They were gray and splotchy, like the freezer burn I’d noticed on Vincent, but worse. Her skin was actually decaying.

  We walked across the dining room to a hallway and an office labeled “Camp Director.” Inside, Jake sat behind a pine desk, wearing the robe and cap he’d had on the night before. When he saw me, he rose and came forward, his arms open. It felt like I’d been waiting for this forever. I ran to him, and we hugged a long time.

  I heard the office door close. The woman had left. Jake led me to a sofa and we sat down.

  Then—I couldn’t remember this ever happening before—neither one of us seemed to know what to say. I’m sure my face was saying, “Explain yourself.” His face looked sad. It seemed to say, “I doubt you’ll understand.”

  Finally, I said what had been on my mind for weeks: “Why didn’t you call me? I would have come with you.”

  “That’s why I didn’t call, Dani. Like I said, at the time I was afraid it would be dangerous. And it was all about my family. I didn’t want to risk you getting hurt.”

  “You don’t think it hurt me when you just disappeared?” I said.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Another awkward silence.

  “Tell me what happened, Jake.”

  “It was like I said. My parents—Philip and my mom—disappeared. Then Vincent showed up—I thought he was a friend then—and showed me how to travel to this world. I expected dangers, but I was welcomed like a hero and brought to this place to meet my father.”

  “So you believed all this? Just like that?”

  “Oh, no. At first I thought the whole thing was crazy. I didn’t know anything about Mom and Philip’s days with Scatter. I was still on a rescue mission, just biding my time until I could find my . . . parents.”

  “What happened?”

  “The more time I spent with Scatter, the more I began to realize who I am.”

  “And that is . . . ?”

  Jake smiled and shook his head in a way I found annoying—and patronizing. “His child, of course. And as his child I am destined to rule at his right side and inherit his kingdom.”

  “Jake, your father’s kingdom is a run-down summer camp and a few zombies in hoods.”

  “The faithful have endured many trials. They have trusted my father’s promise. You see them now with earthly eyes. They look old. Their bodies are decaying.”

  “Jake, they’re dead! They walk around, but they—”

  “Oh no, they live. The freezing was hard on all of them, not the least upon my father himself, as you’ll see. But this is temporary. Scatter calls what happened in Bridgewater ‘the first resurrection.’ Soon there will be another, and we will all be glorified. But don’t just take my word for it. I want you to meet my father.”

  12

  Jake stood and took my hand. He led me to a closet where several robes hung. They were all white, of course, but made of heavy wool. “Put this on,” he said, handing me one and putting on another himself.

  We walked back across the dining room and got on the elevator. We went down a long way. As we dropped, the air got colder. By the time we stopped, I could see my breath. Finally the doors opened, and I was face to face with Scatter.

  I felt sick to my stomach. This was the tall man in my dream.

  Was this Jake’s father? He was tall and thin, with Jake’s features, but his head had been shaved. There were four bandages on his scalp. He was yellow around the eyes, and his skin was spotted with black and green and gray.

  Scatter moved very slowly. He paused often to catch his breath, breath supplied by an oxygen tank on a cart next to him. When he opened his mouth, I could see that his teeth were yellow and sharp, like a wolf’s.

  It couldn’t have been much above freezing in the room. Otherwise it was furnished like a luxury apartment without a view. Through a half-open door to one side I could see a large hospital bed, another oxygen cart, and some IV stands. In a corner in the living room were studio lights and a video camera on a tripod.

  Jake bowed from the waist. Then he stepped forward and hugge
d his father, carefully. Scatter turned his eyes to me.

  “Danielle,” he said, trying to smile but clearly in pain. “Jake has spoken of you often. Come, sit.”

  We sat on a couple of loveseats arranged around a coffee table. Despite his physical weakness, Scatter’s black eyes were fully alert. He looked me up and down, then focused all his attention on my face, as if he were trying to look into my soul.

  “You and the young man who came with you . . .”

  “Trey.”

  “Yes. You are very brave. You must care a great deal for my son. I can see why he has spoken so highly of you.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “Very brave, and beautiful too,” he went on.

  Now he was creeping me out. I thought about the girl in my dream.

  “You have joined our family at a momentous time. Have you told her, Jake?”

  “Not completely, Father,” Jake said. “I thought it best to leave that to you.”

  Then Scatter said the words I’d heard Jake read the night before: “The king rises into the heavens among the gods dwelling there. He sits on the great throne and decides the affairs of men. He gives you his arm and leads you into the sky.”

  Scatter looked at me intently. “I can see you doubt the word, Danielle. But don’t judge by what you see. You are looking at a sick old man, I know. Do you know what happens when they try to preserve you cryonically? They drill holes in your skull and pump antifreeze into your veins. They freeze you slowly to minimize tissue damage. And they thaw you out the same way.