Theoretically, the universe was made up mostly of dark matter, a substance whose properties were almost completely unknown. Was it possible that the earth had a reserve of dark matter and that this civilization had preserved it? Harnessed it and hid it away?
It didn’t matter now. All Dillon could think about was James taped to a chair, bleeding and helpless. It filled him with rage and the rage fueled the suit. Even though he was a hundred feet above the sea, he was traveling at such a reckless pace the water below him was splitting apart.
The Falklands came into view, and not much farther was the familiar blue ice of the Antarctic. He weaved in between two ice canyons and ducked underneath a natural bridge before slamming hard into the water below and slicing through it like a knife before raising himself out. The suit, apparently, could travel through water as well.
He came to the opening and flew down.
El Sacerdote stood before the tower of ice. The trip, even by plane, had taken twenty-one hours to complete. The hike was something else. They had bought gear and boots and clothing, but it was all last minute and not the type of clothing you needed for this environment. His men were all shivering, holding thermoses filled with hot tea to warm their hands.
But he didn’t care. This, he knew, was what his life was for. The reason he was here. He turned to James.
“I was going to flood your country with guns and I thought that I was a master. That by taking something your country loves and turning it against you I could hasten your collapse. And then this came into my life. It was meant for me. I am meant to be here.”
James didn’t respond.
El Sacerdote put his bare hand on the tower, feeling its warmth, and it slipped through as if the tower weren’t there. He laughed, and walked inside.
The stairs were there, as James had said they would be, and he climbed them to the top and saw a lever across the room. He walked there and touched it: it was warm, as all this ice was warm. He pulled on it, and the floor collapsed around him.
He laughed as he slid down and into another room. He crashed into the floor and took a moment to reorient himself before rising.
He was in a chamber of some sort. Through the walls were holes, as if a truck had rammed through them. He went through the first one into another room—and saw what he had come for. Suspended in transparent ice was a suit. This one was brown. He walked to it, his heart pounding in his chest, and touched the ice. It immediately fell to the floor and the suit was lowered, splitting open at the center.
He laughed to himself and stepped inside.
Power. That’s what it felt like. Pure power. He moved around and felt the balance. It took him only a moment to grow accustomed to the dimensions. He walked to the wall and punched at it and it shattered like glass. He was staring at his hands, the thought of what he could do racing in his mind as he heard something behind him. He turned and a black liquid was pooled around his feet.
It thrust out like a snake and attached itself to him. He saw images…burning buildings, blood, smoke, corpses, and horrific screaming that filled his ears. His hands went to them to try and block the sound but it didn’t help.
The substance crawled up his body, over his chest. His vision was rimmed red and he felt…rage. The purity of it was overwhelming. He laughed as the power filled him like an electric current. He looked to his hands again as the substance engulfed him. They were growing. He was growing. The suit was morphing into something else.
He screamed as he felt his bones break and his muscles tear. He was being spread out, heightened and widened with the suit, and he felt his face rip open…
28
Dillon flew through the cabin and could hear the voices of men speaking Spanish. He came to the city and saw two men and James standing before the tower.
“James!”
The two men turned to him and pulled out pistols. He propelled himself at them, one arm to each, and lifted them into the air. He threw them across the city and they hit buildings before flying to the floor. He flew down.
“Let’s go.”
“I’m sorry, Dillon. I’m sorry, he was going to kill Niles.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s—”
The air seemed to shatter as the city street was blown open. Chunks of ice flew in every direction. A massive hand reached out of the hole and pulled itself up. Attached to the hand was an arm, and shoulder and a body, unlike Dillon had seen before.
The beast was what he had seen in the visions. A monster. It roared and Dillon saw the face; a mass of teeth and tongue. The creature stood at least double his height and was as wide as a bus. It jumped into the air at him with such speed he couldn’t even brace himself as a massive fist bashed into his body and sent him flying into a building.
The beast picked up James.
“No!” Dillon screamed.
The beast twisted his body like a rag, snapping his back, and threw him into the street. It looked up and leapt, crashing into the ceiling, causing massive chunks of ice and rock to come hurtling down into the city as it escaped out into the night air.
Dillon picked himself up and sprinted over to James. He was staring upward, his eyes glossy.
“No! No, James. James! No, stay with me, I’m getting you outta here. Stay with me.”
“Dillon, stop.”
“No,” he said, lifting him up. He propelled himself into the air and out the hole the creature had created into the icy night.
“Dillon, please stop.”
“No, I’m getting you to a hospital.”
“It’s too late.”
“No! Don’t say that. It’s not too late. It’s not too late.”
“Dillon,” he said softly, “it’s too late.”
Dillon set him down in the snow. He slipped out of the suit and cradled him in his arms. “No, please, please no.”
“It’s all right. I’m ready.”
“No,” he said, weeping.
“Dillon, I’m ready…”
“Everything I’ve done…it was for you. I did it for you. I wanted you to be proud. I wanted you not to regret taking me out of that boys home. I wanted you to be proud.”
“Dillon,” he said gently, “I’ve always been proud of you.”
Dillon held him as his breathing stopped. His back had been broken in so many places his organs were shutting down and he was unable to breathe. But Dillon didn’t let go. Not until he felt the muscles go limp.
“No,” he cried.
He put his head on his chest and wept.
The small raft Dillon had made of ice floated across the surface of the ocean for only a few moments before it began to sink, James’ body sinking with it. He stood in the suit the entire time until the body was completely out of view, swallowed by the sea. Returned to where it had come from.
“Goodbye, dad.”
He lifted off the ground, and flew into the night sky.
29
Dillon sat on the beach, on his seventh beer, the suit in front of him. He had his gym bag with millions of dollars worth of jewels and he stood up and threw it into the ocean. He stared at the suit and ran at it and kicked it. He backed away and swore, his foot feeling like a boulder had dropped on it. He collapsed back onto the sand.
Footsteps sounded behind him as Jaime came. She stood there but didn’t say anything.
“James’s dead,” he said.
She sat down without a word and put her arm around him as tears streaked down his face. He took a sip of beer.
“What’re you going to do?” she said.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What about the suit?”
“I’m leaving it here. Anyone that wants it can have it.”
“You’re going to leave?”
He nodded. “I have a flight booked for one a.m.”
“Where?”
“Africa.”
“When will you come back?”
He was quiet a moment. “I’m not coming back.”
She held him tighter, placing her head on his shoulder. “Are you sure?”
“I’m not sure about anything anymore. But I can’t stay here. I have to go.”
She kissed his cheek, tears in her eyes now as she rose and went back to her house.
Dillon was packing as he glanced outside to the full moon. He found a few photos of himself and James when he was young. He stared at them a long time and then threw them in the garbage. He packed up one bag and went downstairs, turned, and looked over the house one more time. As he was walking out the door, Jaime tried to walk in.
“I have to show you something.”
She ran over to the television in the living room. Flipping it on, she turned to the local NBC affiliate. A news anchor, a brunette woman, was on.
“Again for those of you just tuning in, some sort of what we’re being told is a machine or large animal is attacking the Honolulu police precinct. We’ve reported over a dozen people, including six police officers, dead with at least ten wounded. The mayor has declared a state of emergency and the National Guard is being brought in to deal with the situation. We go live now to Todd Kalani on scene.”
The view switched to a man in a helicopter looking down onto a street. In the middle was the creature. A large F-350 Ford truck was barreling down the road and the creature sped up and slammed into it with its shoulder, the truck spinning end over end before crashing into the pavement and sliding, a shower of sparks surrounding it.
“I don’t know what this is,” Jaime said, “but it’s connected to that suit, isn’t it?”
Dillon didn’t speak. He watched as the creature noticed the helicopter. It picked up a nearby car and leapt into the air thirty feet, spun, and flung the car. The camera caught the car as it grew in size and everyone onboard screamed just before the camera feed turned to static. The news switched back to the studio and the anchor, with her hand over her mouth, saying, “Holy shit. Holy shit…”
“Dillon,” she said, grabbing his arm, “Dillon, you know what this is, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I know what it is.”
“Well?”
“Well what?” he said, turning to her.
“You’re still leaving?”
“Now seems as good a time as ever.”
“Are you kidding me?” she said, stepping close to him. “You’re leaving while that things tears apart this city? This is your home.”
“It was my home. And what did I do with it? With all the opportunities I was given? I pissed them away and killed the only person that ever cared about me.”
“You didn’t kill him, Dillon.”
“I may as well have. He died because of what I did. Because I had to get rich and impress him.”
She took his hands in his. “Dillon, what you did with that suit was very nice. I enjoyed it immensely and I enjoyed the time we spent together… and I’m glad you’re rich. I really am. But that suit is a gift. Can you imagine how many people across the world you can help? Is there anything you couldn’t do? You’ve been given this…amazing opportunity, and I know, Dillon, I know it’s hard to think about anything but yourself in that situation. But you’re not a little kid starving on the street anymore. You’re a man. A good man with a good heart. You’ve changed. That suit is for you. You told me no one else can use it. It’s for you. For who you are now, not who you were then. It’s a gift. One that James would have wanted you to use.”
Dillon stood silently, staring at the floor. “I can’t believe he’s not going to be here in the morning cooking me breakfast. That I’ll never hear him tell me why color is better spelled with ‘u’ or why tea is better than coffee.”
She laughed softly through her tears. “I’m so sorry, Dillon. I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.”
The TV switched to another view. A camera at eye-level. The creature ripped out a telephone pole from the ground and rammed it through the doors of an administrative offices building.
“That…thing, is killing people. You have to do something.”
Dillon nodded, absently staring at the screen. He kissed her hands, his eyes closing, and then said, “Take your family and go out on James’ yacht. The keys are in his nightstand drawer. It’s not safe here or at your house.”
He turned and ran to the door before stopping and looking back. “If I don’t make it…”
“You will. And you still owe me another date.”
He nodded and blew her a kiss before disappearing into the night.
30
Dillon ran to the beach. A crowd of teenagers was standing around the suit, trying to move it. They scattered as the material split open upon Dillon’s approach and he jumped inside.
“Sorry guys,” he said. “Ride for one.”
He rocketed into the sky, higher and higher, crystals of ice forming on the suit as he shot past the clouds. He looked down at the island of Oahu, and the gleaming lights of the little city. His city. He had neglected it and taken it for granted…left it at any opportunity he had, chasing a dollar. He was running after paradise and all this time paradise was right here in front of him. He had devoted this life only to himself…and it had brought him only wasted time.
He aligned himself and started slow…and gradually built up speed. The ice that had formed broke off of him and the wind was screaming in his ears. But he didn’t slow. He imagined he was a meteor plummeting down from the heavens, unable to stop, unable to slow.
The ground rushed toward him, the street, the view of the creature who looked up just in time as Dillon slammed into it and the world spun.
He impacted so hard against the ground and the creature that it created a mini-earthquake and waves rolled under the cement, damaging several nearby buildings. A crater had formed. Dillon couldn’t see. He was covered in gravel and cement and rocks and dirt. He wiped at his eyes but it didn’t help; there was too much dust and dirt kicked up. He stood and crawled out of the crater, pulling himself up inch by inch.
A roar came behind him as a hand came up and grabbed his leg. He ripped into the pavement to keep his grip but the beast tore him away and knocked him into the side of the crater. It roared again, rearing up to its full height before leaping into the air and coming down on top of Dillon.
At the last moment Dillon rolled just as the creature’s knees smashed into the dirt. He flew out of the crater and onto the street. A blur bounded from the crater and landed on the street. The creature bellowed, revealing row after row of white teeth the shape of cylindrical spikes. It ran at Dillon just as he went to take flight and caught his ankle, throwing him down into the pavement before flinging him like a doll across the street into a building.
The creature ran at him, knocking over street lamps and flipping cars aside to get to him. Dillon spun with a kick that impacted against the creature’s jaw and sent him back.
“So,” he thought, “he can be hurt.”
Another ear-splitting roar before it rushed him. Dillon flipped up and over the creature and ended up behind him. He struck it several times and then thrust out his hands, the magnetic force knocking the creature forward and through a wall. Dillon leapt after it just as the creature pushed out with its own force and Dillon was thrown through the ceiling into the floor above it.
He landed on his back. For the first time he could remember in the suit, he felt intense pain. It wasn’t invincible. And if he could feel pain, he could die.
Dillon got to his feet and crashed through a wall back out into the street just as the creature burst through the floor and ran after him. Dillon sprinted down the road, but the creature was faster. It grabbed a car and bashed him with it, flattening him on the pavement as it continued to pummel him, hunks of metal and tire flying off.
As the creature raised up for another strike Dillon thrust up with both legs and flew at it, smashing it in the jaw. The car dropped on it and knocked it dizzy.
“Okay, let’s see how well you can fly.”
Dillon sprinted and
flew into the air. He heard the growl behind him as the creature flew after him. He looked back, and the beast was going so fast, it would catch up to him in a couple of seconds.
“Okay, so that’s not too bad.”
The creature plowed into him and the two bodies spun into the sky like a hawk and pigeon in a deathly embrace. The creature was holding on to him, its arms wrapped around his waist as Dillon was punching into its face with everything he had. He hit it five times…ten times…twenty, the speed of each blow increasing until the creature couldn’t take anymore and let him go.
They both plummeted toward the earth and Dillon crashed into a building and went through floor after floor until finally hitting solid ground. He felt the vibration from the creature as it landed somewhere nearby.
Dillon rose to his feet, pain shooting through his hips and back, his legs like jelly. He walked out of the building, too weak to run, and looked around. Unconsciously, he was holding his side. His ribs were broken. He stumbled out into the street. He heard something next to him and looked over to the woman in a wheelchair he had seen the other day, hidden behind a car, pale and shaking.
“Go,” he said, “now. Come on, you need to go.”
He helped her up and she rolled down the sidewalk as he heard another roar farther off in the city. He inhaled, deeply, feeling the pain in every inch of him, and began to hover and fly.
Looking down at the city, he saw the creature a few blocks away. It was destroying another building, looking for him. He flew down and lifted a car as he came back up. “Hey, you lookin’ for me?”
He flung the car, keeping a chunk of metal from it in his hands. The beast saw it in time and swiped it away like a bug. Dillon shot into the air and the creature followed.
Dillon rose above the clouds and saw the mass of growling flesh and matter behind him, moving so fast it was distorting. Dillon glanced around. A red, glowing mass was off to the side. Kilauea. The most active volcano on earth. He flew toward it.
Black Onyx Duology Page 9
