The youth slipped stealthily down the ramp and connected a device to the access keypad at the entrance.
"Piece of cake," he thought.
The four-digit password changed with every new guest but it presented no serious obstacle for him. In the blink of an eye, a green light advised him the door was now open. He crawled the four meters to the inside door and tried to force the lock with a knife and some pliers.
"No luck, better if I just stick to confirming that the car is inside," he said under his breath.
He moved along to the garage door, took out a pocket drill and wrapped the sleeve of his jacket around it before slowly drilling a hole in the lower right side of the door. Right at the height of his head.
"Can't see a thing," he grunted.
He turned on a pilot light lantern and aimed the light at the license plate.
"Bingo!" he thought excitedly.
Trying to control his excitement, he crept away from the house.
"It's me," he said into his phone as he walked away.
"If you're calling, it must be because you found the car."
"Yeah, it's here."
"Good boy!" said the man with the dark glasses, quite pleased with the news. "Now get away from there because it won't be long before the mouse catcher arrives."
VII – BETWEEN DEATH AND LIFE
"Have the red blotches gone down?"
"I'm afraid not," Ana answered.
"That leaves us no choice than to move on to the live healing."
"Let's wait a little longer."
"You know very well that, if we don't take action soon, we run the risk of losing him forever."
Ana nodded and stood up.
"Bring the crystal globe," Father Matthias, stroking her hair reassuringly.
Not wasting a moment, he opened the black knapsack and removed some dried herbs, fresh roots, a few small jars that contained various mixtures and essential oils, and a set of notes.
"Here you are," said Ana.
After leaving the globe beside him, she headed to the refrigerator and dumped all the ice cubes in a bowl.
"Thanks," said Father Matthias with a forced smile.
He mixed a portion of what he had taken from the knapsack with the ice, and soaked his hands with an oil that smelled like rotten chestnuts.
"Now you can go ahead and clean him," he told Ana.
She rinsed off what remained of the poultice with a damp cloth, dried the reddened areas that stood out in stark contrast to the cardboard-white color of his skin, and sprinkled a fine powder that resembled cinnamon around them.
"Place the globe on his spinal column in the exact spot I marked for you."
Ana followed his instructions to the letter, placing the globe in the proper place and removing the wrapping that covered it.
"Ready!"
*
Outside...
Thomas appeared from among the trees like a ghost born from the void. He lit a cigarette, puffed greedily on it and exhaled the smoke through his nose.
"What a bastard!" he said, smiling.
Once he finished the cigarette, he decided to light another one. He liked the halo of colors that was dancing in the window where his prey was working, unaware of his presence. Thomas could see it all through the glass that acted much like a watery filter, and the visual spectacle was striking enough that he preferred to risk giving them a little more time in order to fully enjoy the light show.
Even the rain made everything look all the more unbelievable. The flashes of colors—green, yellow, blue, red—extended outward like silk ribbons that divided themselves into particles of dust that faded away in three dimensions. That was the effect water had on the invisible, watering with drops of life the supernatural world that surrounds us and revealing its very existence.
"Time's up," said Thomas, tossing the cigarette butt on the ground.
*
"Press down hard," Father Matthias instructed.
"Wouldn't it be better to attach it with adhesive tape?"
"Not this time, no. I'd rather be able to take the globe away quickly if something goes wrong than to burn the spinal column.
Ana closed her eyes, clutched the globe and pushed down on it, using the weight of her body to increase the pressure.
"We're starting now," Father Matthias advised Ana.
He applied a small amount of the mixture to the reddened areas first. Then very carefully, as if he was conducting an ancient ritual, he whispered prayers to focus himself and put pressure on the frozen paste. He picked a knife and scraped away the excess mixture, attempting to only cover the red area and leave the skin uncovered.
"Ooofffff!" he grunted.
Once he was done, he poured the rest of the ice out around the crystal globe.
"The heat seeks out the cold and the cold absorbs the heat," he said, closing his eyes.
The globe began to warm up. Ana refrained from crying out in pain and pressed down with all her strength, absorbing constant shocks that vibrated and rocked her body back and forth.
"Hold on!" shouted Father Matthias.
The pale skin of the body was mixed with a bluish river that branched off into thousands of thin lines and spread outward from the center of the globe in all directions. The skin was undulating, as if it was reflecting a stream of luminous water flowing inside it. The red blotches released an almost imperceptible vapor, Carlos' hair curled and shined, his eyelids trembled, his neck tensed up and his limbs moved spastically.
"I'm burning up!" Ana cried.
"Don't let go. You have to hang on for just a more few seconds."
"Aggghhhh!" she sobbed.
Thomas kicked down the door and entered the room.
"You!" exclaimed a shocked Father Matthias.
"Did I catch you at a bad time?" Thomas asked sarcastically. "Now you see what happens when you play with the forbidden. By the way, who's your little friend there?"
Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Matthias by the shoulders and threw him against the wall.
"I should have killed you in that stinking sewer like I planned from the beginning."
He stomped the priest's face into the floor and looked at Ana.
"When I finish with him, I'll start in on you."
Terrified, she watched him but didn't let go of the globe.
"Leave everything and get out of here!" cried Father Matthias.
"I can't leave you to die," she said.
Thomas lifted his prey and his hands tightened around the priest's neck.
"Some people want to live and others to die. What you two don't understand is that none of that matters."
Father Matthias was in agony now and fighting for his life.
"Listen to me, little girl. I'm offering you a deal. If you let the dead guy rest in peace, I'll let go of the priest's neck. How's that sound to you? In the end, it's not for wise men to play at being God. Or do you believe you have divine powers?"
Ana was crying inconsolably, trying to hold up under the pain, scared out of her wits and without a clue of what to do.
"A dead man for a live one, that's a fair trade, don't you think?"
Taking advantage of the distraction, and with a little bit of luck, Father Matthias managed to drive his knee into Thomas' crotch. When he got his breath back, he threw himself backwards and gave Thomas a powerful head butt. Unfortunately, it didn't produce the desired result.
"Aagghhhhh!" the father groaned, rubbing his head.
"You idiot," Thomas said, wiping the blood from his nose.
One powerful punch in the stomach and another in the ribs dropped Father Matthias to the floor. A kick to the thigh and two in the face made his head spin. He nearly lost consciousness.
"Don't go to sleep on me now, you old bastard. I admit you have more guts than I gave you credit for."
He turned around, spit out some saliva mixed with blood and looked at Ana.
"Now it's your turn."
VIII – SOLIT
UDE
Ana was able to feel how the blood was flowing through Carlos' body. The heat from the glass globe that had burned her so much began to dissipate and spread through the interior. She breathed in relief, but frightened at the same time. Thomas glared at her with his eyes of a killer and pointed his finger to signal that her death was imminent.
"I'm not afraid of you," Ana shouted between sobs.
That infuriated Thomas.
"I gave you the chance to choose between living and dying and you made the wrong choice.
Just then the body of Carlos began to go into convulsions, as if he was suffering an epileptic fit.
"The dead must not come back," said Thomas, as his eyes opened wide.
"Aaaaaaaaaa!!"
The scream from Carlos, a sure sign that air was entering his lungs and his heart was beginning to beat again, took Ana by surprise. But it only enraged Thomas even more and helped Father Matthias regain consciousness.
"Damn the both of you!" Thomas shouted as his hand moved towards his gun.
But Father Matthias gave him a swift kick in the ankle, knocking him to the floor.
"Ana, help Carlos as much as you can and the two of you get out of here!" the priest yelled as he grappled with their attacker.
He held on to the pistol with both hands and attempted to take aim at Thomas. His assailant fought back with his knees, wrestling for control of the weapon to aim and shoot Father Matthias.
"One less priest," said Thomas through clenched teeth.
"We'll see you in hell," the priest grunted in reply, and took heart at seeing Ana hustle Carlos out through the garage door.
The pistol moved back and forth like a pendulum, shaking from the exertion of whoever held the upper hand in guiding its direction for the moment. But the strength of the killer was greater than the man of letters and now the gun barrel was brushing up against his forehead.
"One day I will go to hell, but right now I'm sending you to meet your Creator," Thomas swore.
Father Matthias closed his eyes. His strength was flagging. The foul breath of the killer made him nauseous even as he made a final desperate effort to resist. Not to save his own life, because he knew he wouldn't hold out much longer, but to buy time for Ana and Carlos.
Their faces appeared in his mind, mainly Ana's, since she had spent over four years working with him. Ever since she caught him by surprise doing strange experiments in the library basement, Ana had never stopped peppering him with questions, putting in long hours studying by his side, and generally concerning herself with his health. She brought him food freshly cooked by her mother, did the laundry, and even bought him a radio so he wouldn't lose all contact with the outside world.
"I'm ready," grunted Father Matthias, weary of the struggle.
"Well, then... goodbye," said Thomas with a smile.
But the killer failed to notice Ana had returned with a folding chair in her hands.
"Same to you!" she screamed. "Goodbye!"
The first blow from the chair stunned Thomas. The second deposited him on the floor, unconscious.
*
The garage door refused to open. Carlos twisted and turned, screamed in agony and vomited blood and liquid remnants. Father Matthias was cleaning up the blood while Ana, sitting behind the wheel, kept hitting the security keypad that didn't work in frustration.
"What a disaster!" shouted the woman who owned the room as she released the mechanical door. "I've seen some strange things in my day, but never vandalism like this."
Ana took advantage of the situation and accelerated, honking the horn so the owner would move out of the way. She shot out of the garage with her tires screeching, leaving a cloud of fumes that smelled of burned rubber in her wake.
"I'll charge everything to your credit card! You're not going to get away with this that easily!" the owner yelled, shaking her fist at them.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Ana answered, lowering the side window.
Beside her, Father Matthias was slumped in the passenger seat, his head up, trying to convince himself to ignore the pain. Carlos was groaning in discomfort in the back, apart from being completely disoriented and scared out of his mind. Ana remembered what her grandmother used to tell her when she was a little girl:
"We come into world alone, we live alone, and we die alone."
Seeing Carlos in agony and realizing she couldn't do anything more for him, she thought that now he found himself truly alone, isolated from any reality. For all the good fortune the young man had, being so intelligent and extremely strong as she believed he was, he was fighting to survive both physically and mentally.
"Better to drive on secondary roads," said Father Matthias.
"Where are we going?"
"I don't know, but it will be better to disappear until Carlos has a chance to recover from everything. That’s assuming nothing unexpected happens, and then we can decide what to do later.
"Do you really think that we'll make the contents of the manuscript public with his program?" Anna asked, a little confused.
"It's not about spreading the word per se, more like delivering a tool to the world so they can decipher it and everyone can interpret it the way they want. I'm certain that countless minds will discover things that slipped by you and me, even after so many years spent analyzing it."
"A universal knowledge."
"Knowledge is created by human beings and belongs to humanity. We cannot deny the obvious."
"The people who are chasing after us have no desire that its contents come to light."
"But that is what the unimaginative, mediocre people do. They are incapable of creating anything themselves so they use and abuse all legitimate, genuinely talented men and women like bloodsucking parasites in order not to lose power. I'm speaking of humanity, of all the good people who collectively fight and struggle to improve the world. Don't get me wrong. The parasites, even though they are human beings, do not form part of humanity. They only make use and take advantage of it."
Father Matthias rested his hand on his ribs and realized that one was broken.
"Pull over in here," he said and pointed to a sign reading NATURAL PARK. "Let's see if we have any luck and find a place where we can spend the night."
IX — THE STRANGE STENCH
They drove a few kilometers deeper into the forest and came across an abandoned building. The undergrowth rose from the ground until it intertwined with the branches of the trees, creating a natural green barrier that camouflaged the building. Most of the windows were intact, a good sign that not too many people came by the house. The lack of graffiti on the walls confirmed their suspicion.
"I don't hear a thing," Ana advised the others.
Father Matthias painfully climbed out of the car and glanced at Carlos, who was now wrapped in a blanket and sleeping peacefully as if nothing had ever happened. He glanced up at the tree tops.
"You're right. You can't even hear a bird."
Ana silently approached the entrance to the building and pushed the door.
"It's open, shall we go in?" she asked, peering inside with hopes of examining the interior but without crossing the threshold of darkness.
"Right now, I'd rather wait until Carlos wakes up."
Ana agreed and took a step inside.
"OK, meanwhile I'll see if the place is safe."
The cracks running along the walls, the paint stained by the dampness, and cobwebs covering the corners were the most noticeable features inside. Two machines for doing God knows what were accumulating dust in one corner. A third that resembled a giant blender occupied the middle of the room. The wooden shelves, now empty, were rotting from the lack of upkeep by human hands.
"What kind of place is this?" Ana wondered.
A noise alarmed her. She walked very slowly toward a double door like the ones you find in expensive restaurants.
"Is anyone there?" she asked in a hushed voice.
She heard the noise again, just when she was read
y to push the door open. She hesitated, filled with doubt. Her heart was beating fast, the adrenaline pumping through her nervous system and spreading to the muscles, the pupils of her eyes dilated and fear kept her on edge. She clenched her fists in attack mode and carefully entered the other room.
"I don't see anything," she thought.
Shuffling her feet to avoid losing her balance in the event of an attack, she found her way thanks to tiny rays of light that came in through the dirty windows like elongated fluorescent tubes.
The noise furtively moved away from her, vanishing into the depths of the blackness. Ana went back and forth in her mind over whether to run or fight, but the truth is she was attempting to face and conquer her own fears.
"I don't think they followed us here. If they had, they would have already shot us. It's most likely some animal," she thought, weighing the options.
She unclenched her fists, went over to one of the windows and cleaned it off with the sleeve of her jersey. The light revealed twelve rows of shelves that reached to the ceiling. She saw four work tables and an enormous square basket that had fallen apart.
"I still don't know what this place is," she thought.
Another door at the end of the room, on the right. She headed there, constantly looking all around her until she stopped a few meters in front of it.
"I have a bad feeling about this," she sighed warily.
The space between the shelves was simply too small. Ana was absolutely sure two people couldn't fit there at the same time. With every passing second, the feeling she was trapped inside a cage increased and she was overcome with anxiety.
"I shouldn't have come in here," she said regretfully while looking upwards.
Tales from the Voynich Manuscript and the Island of Jan Mayen Page 4
