The Hollow Skull

by Christopher Pike

  7

  That night, the same day Tim almost died, Cass and Fred prepared for bed while Mary slept on the couch. Cass was worried about her sister—Mary’s sleep was anything but settled. She kept twitching and turning and muttering to herself. Cass carefully felt her sister’s head and thought it warm. Cass worried that she was catching something. Cass wished she could have spared Mary the sight of Tim’s vomiting blood.

  Thank God neither Mary nor Jill had been in the emergency room when Tim almost died. Cass had yet to tell either of them how close it had been.

  But Fred knew—he had arrived at the hospital not long after the big scene. She had not seen him come in, had only run into him after he had tracked down Tim and messed up his own clothes giving his friend a big hug. She had spent the evening washing all their clothes. Fred had been seriously shaken by Tim’s close encounter of the fatal kind. Cass had never seen him so distraught, but he had mastered his emotions somehow and driven them all home. They still had to pick up Fred’s car at the hospital, he had just left it there. Of course they would go see Tim tomorrow, Cass only hoped he’d make it through the night. The doctors still didn’t know what was wrong with him, but when they left Tim had been getting stronger by the minute. The doctors thought the crisis had passed.

  “What a day.” Cass sighed when they were finally lying in bed together.

  “It was weird,” Fred agreed.

  “I wish we knew what was wrong with him. Did I tell you that Jill said he was acting bizarre before he got sick?”

  “She said something to me about him trying to drown her, but I didn’t see how it related.”

  “It doesn’t seem to relate.” Cass was thoughtful. “But I can’t stop thinking about what happened last night in the mine. I told the doctors to examine his hand but they said it appeared to be fine.”

  “I think what happened today and what happened last night were coincidences.”

  Cass sat up. “Do you really? I don’t believe in coincidence too much. Remember it was Tim who told us how some of the miners who worked down in the Shaft lost their marbles. And just today Tim starts acting weird, and then gets so sick he throws up blood. It’s got to make you wonder.”

  Fred yawned. “Wonder what? That he caught something when he was down in the mine?”

  “Yeah. Some kind of weird infection. It’s possible.”

  “If he got infected through the cut on his hand, it would show.”

  Cass frowned. “I know but I can’t stop feeling there’s a connection. I wouldn’t mind going back down there and getting a sample of whatever it was that Tim scraped his hand on.”

  Fred smiled. “What if he didn’t scrape his hand? What if a tiny monster bit him when he fell in that black puddle?”

  “I still want to go back there. Would you go with me?”

  “Sure.”

  “How did you hear that Tim was at the hospital?”

  “The whole town was abuzz with the news.”

  “Exactly when did you get there? I didn’t see you come in.”

  “I don’t know. Why?”

  “Just wondering.” Cass glanced across the trailer at her sister, who continued to fidget. “I told Mary I wanted to get out of town today. But I don’t suppose we’re going anywhere until Tim is better.”

  Fred shook his head. “Once he’s stable, we can split.”

  The question hung in the air.

  “So you’re coming to L.A. with us?” Cass asked. Fred shrugged. “Sure.”

  Cass smiled. “Is that a commitment?”

  Fred chuckled. “That word again. Yeah, I go where you go. Does that make you happy?”

  “Very.” She kissed him. “Want to love me?”

  He glanced at Mary. “Will she wake up?”

  “No. I’m pretty sure she won’t.”

  Fred pulled her closer. “Then I definitely want to love you.”

  On the other side of Madison, Jill was preparing for bed when she heard a knock at her window. Jill lived at home with both her parents, but their room was at the far end of the house. It wasn’t unusual for Tim to stop by after hours and climb in her window; her mom and dad never seemed to hear a thing. But Jill couldn’t imagine who it could be now, she sure as hell knew it wasn’t Tim. The last she had seen him they had still been pumping him full of fresh blood. She prayed to God he was all right. She was nowhere near over what had happened. Her whole nervous system was shot. She wondered if she’d need a pill to fall asleep. Her mom kept all kinds of prescription medicines in the bathroom.

  But it was Tim. He grinned through the open window.

  “Hey, babe,” he said. He wore green hospital gowns, two of them facing in opposite directions.

  She was floored. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was feeling better so I left the hospital.”

  Jill had to blink. He didn’t look the least bit sick. Standing in the faint glow of the moon, he could have just come a from a vigorous game of basketball, which he sometimes played late at night with guys at the school. And he had stood at death’s door only a few hours earlier.

  “How did you get here?” she demanded.

  “Fred left his car at the hospital, remember? Hey, you want to go for a drive?”

  “No, it’s late. You have to get back to the hospital.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not going back, I feel fine. Come on, let’s go for a drive. It’s a warm night and the moon is out.”

  “But this is crazy. You need your rest. You need to get better.”

  Tim chuckled. His eyes seemed to shine with the light of the moon.

  “I have never felt better in my life,” he said.

  She didn’t know why she went with him. She guessed she was worried that he would suddenly collapse. He didn’t let her drive and wouldn’t tell her where they were going. Not until they were out of town and he had pulled onto the old dirt road that led up to the Shaft did she realize that he intended to go back to the mine. He did not deny that that was their objective.

  “I don’t want to go back there,” she said. “I hate that place. Turn around.”

  He stared straight ahead. “We hardly got to see any of it the first time. The flashlights are still in this car. We need to explore it thoroughly. There is power in that place.”

  She paused. “You said that earlier, that it had power. What do you mean?”

  He looked over at her. He did appear healthy, yet he had lost a considerable amount of his tan in the last twenty-four hours. His skin had taken on a smooth sheen, it almost glowed in the dark.

  “Can I confide in you?” he asked.

  “About what?”

  “Answer me. Can I confide in you?”

  She shrugged. “Sure.”

  He slowed as he went over a bump in the dirt road. The moonlit hills loomed above them, silvery sentinels guarding the silent desert. The jagged mouth of the mine resembled a black hole cut into an evil fortress. Tim leaned close as he replied and spoke in a soft tone. His voice had changed, his pitch was slightly higher.

  “When I hurt my hand in the mine, something remarkable got under my skin. And that something has begun to change me for the better. I don’t know what it is exactly but I know it is connected to a great plan that was set in motion billions of years ago out among the stars. There is a substance in this mine that allows a human being to change from a mere mortal into a god, and that is what is happening to me. I am being transformed into a creature of the universe.” He paused. “What do you think?”

  She wanted to blink but could not.

  “I think you need to go back to the hospital,” she said.

  He studied her. “Do you understand what I am telling you?”

  “No. You were vomiting blood. You’re sick. You’re not being transformed into anything. You need to be under a doctor’s care. Turn the car around.”

  “No. You have to listen to what I am saying. You can have the same opportunity. If you refuse to take it, I cannot help yo
u. Now the reason I was vomiting blood is because I ate ground-up glass.”

  “What?”

  “Glass mixed with sand. Both substances are high in silicon. Chemically silicon is identical to the carbon atom, which forms the basis of life on this planet. All of organic chemistry is centered on the carbon bond. But silicon’s atomic weight is greater than carbon’s—the outer electron shells are identical but the nuclei are different. As my nervous system transforms, it requires a high amount of silicon to replace the carbon. My system is growing denser and more resistant. But I no longer need to eat glass and sand to get it. I have learned from my errors and I am finding better sources.”

  Jill had to breathe. “You’re crazy.”

  He watched her. “I am not. This transformation is inevitable. Everyone on this planet is going to go through it soon. And those who try to stop it will be destroyed. That is her will.”

  “Who is her?”

  His gaze was focused on an unseen object far away. “She has grown so great now, it is difficult to describe her with mere words.” He turned his attention back to the dirt road and sped up. “We’re almost there.”

  “No!” Jill shouted. “I will not go back down there with you!”

  “It is better if you cooperate. For your own sake.”

  “No!” She tried to open the car door. “Let me out of here. You have no right to make me go anywhere I don’t want to …”

  He struck her on the face. It was not a mere slap, Jill felt her nose break and blood spurt over her shirt. Her head slumped back and she saw stars whirling like grinning demons. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Tim had returned his attention to his driving.

  “You’ll understand everything soon enough,” he said.

  Jill was still groggy when he pulled her out of the car and ushered her into the mine. The upper lift was still in place and he threw her into it and slammed the metal door shut. Soon they were descending into the black abyss. He stood over her with an unconcerned expression, a morbid statue in green hospital gowns. Finally Jill’s head began to clear but she didn’t risk standing. She was afraid he’d strike her again.

  “Why are you doing this?” she cried.

  “I have explained the situation to you,” he replied flatly.

  “But what you’re saying is crazy.”

  “It is a matter of perspective. From a galactic point of view, this is the beginning of a chain reaction that is inevitable.”

  Jill wept as the cold grew all around.

  “No,” she pleaded. “The truth is that you’re sick. Something did get into you last night when you cut your hand, some kind of virus. But it is filling your head with these delusions. What you’re doing has nothing to do with the galaxy.”

  “You are incorrect. Once you have begun to change, you will see the truth of my statements.”

  She got up cautiously. “Tim, look at me, it’s Jill. It’s the girl you love. How can you drag me down to this horrible place? Please, let me turn the lift around. I promise I’ll help you get better. I can drive you back to the hospital tonight.”

  “Remain silent. You do not understand. You cannot in your present condition.”

  “But, Tim …”

  He struck her again in the face and she went down. His blow packed incredible power, and she could not believe how strong he was. Especially since he had almost died that afternoon. Deep inside, as more blood poured from her nose and mouth, she wondered if there was something to what he was saying.

  She had barely recollected her wits when he dragged her off the final lift and pushed her in the direction of the cavern and the black pool. The walls of the dark tunnel swam in her damp eyes. He carried the only flashlight in his right hand, and the nape of her neck in the other. She began to scream bloody murder but she could have been singing church hymns for all the effect it had on him. Her horror was absolute, she knew he intended to force her down into the pool and infect her with whatever had entered his blood. She no longer felt she was dealing with her boyfriend. He spoke like a robot, maybe he had changed into some kind of alien creature.

  “Oh God,” she wept with her head down as he dragged her forward. But her eyes strayed onto an object none of them had noticed the previous night. A crow bar, half buried in the black soot of the tunnel floor. Her right hand swept down and she managed to grab it. Tightening her grip on the steel, she used all the strength in her legs to push herself to the side. For a moment she broke free, and she was lucky he so underestimated her effort that he didn’t even rush to recapture her. The pause gave her time to bring up the crow bar and smash it across his face.

  He fell to his knees in front of her and stared up at her. His face was a mass of blood, as was hers, the unnatural night was streaked with red. Yet he did not look angry, merely surprised.

  “You are more capable than I thought,” he muttered.

  “And you’re an asshole!” she said as she brought the crow bar down on the top of his head. The metal made a sick crushing sound as it pounded his crown. She realized she had probably shattered his skull. But her terror was all-consuming, she could not care. As he fell to the side, she dropped the bar and grabbed his flashlight and ran back toward the lift. With relief bordering on insanity, she leaped into the mesh cage and pushed the ascent button. Slowly the lift began to take her upward. She knew there was only one lift, she thought she would be safe.

  Jill rode all five lifts back to the surface. By that time she was sobbing uncontrollably but it was not stopping her from pushing forward. Staggering out of the mine, she dragged herself toward the car, Fred’s car, that had been left at the hospital so that they could all drive home together. The only problem was she didn’t have the keys. Tim had them, and he was half a mile under the earth.

  “Dammit!” she swore at the night as she kicked the locked door. She would have to walk the six miles back to town. That wasn’t the end of the world; she had walked that far before in the desert at night. But she was weak from her battle with Tim, and her nose was still bleeding. Glancing back at the cave entrance, she wondered if she should have stopped and finished him off altogether. Of course he was her boyfriend and she loved him, but he was trying to kill her. She probably should have bashed his head into a gory pulp.

  Jill started on her way, walking slowly at first but picking up speed. Finally the blood in her nose clotted and she was able to breathe a little easier. The moonlight helped her avoid the worst pitfalls and the dim lights of Madison beckoned her. She figured if she could keep walking straight without taking a break she would be home in two hours. But she wondered what she was going to tell her parents, the police. They would never believe Tim had been able to leave the hospital and overpower her.

  Halfway back to town her nightmare returned. Yet she saw nothing at first, just heard it, the faint sound of an approaching car. In a flash she realized that Tim had made it out of the mine and to the car. A vague dark image finally resolved itself behind her. With the lights of the car off, he was cruising straight toward her.

  Jill leaped off the road and hurried into the shrubs. But Tim had already spotted her and was veering to intercept her. Tumbleweed were torn to shreds under the front of his bumper but it didn’t slow him much. Desperately she searched for a ravine, a gully, some thing the car could not cross. But she was in no man’s land, where the circling vultures traditionally had easy pickings. The floor of the desert was uniform, and except for the clawing shrubs, there was no place to hide. He was only a hundred yards behind her and he was picking up speed. She had no doubt that he intended to run her down.

  Jill ran like a madwoman, but aimlessly, and so it was not long before she felt the slap of the tumble weed as he pulled within inches of her heels. He must have stuck his head out the window, she could hear him clearly as he shouted.

  “Now you die!” he said.

  He gunned the engine. Jill dived desperately to the right, but the bumper caught her hip and sent her flying. Landing on her back in a p
ile of sand and rock, she felt a stabbing pain throb through her entire left side. She tried to stand but was unable. She had broken her hip, and he was coming round for another pass.

  Yet he did not run her over. He parked a short distance away and walked casually toward her, a flashlight in one hand, a shovel in the other. His face was caked with dried blood, but he didn’t appear unduly upset. He didn’t even look at her. Ten feet from where she groveled in the dirt, he set his flashlight down and began to dig with his shovel. A grave, she realized, he was digging her grave.

  “Tim!” she screamed. “Please stop! You have to stop!”

  He ignored her and kept digging, his bloody face grotesque in the hard light of the white flashlight beam. Yet his total indifference was more horrible than any seething emotion would have been. He was right—he was an alien. Jill tried to get up on her knees, the pain was overwhelming.

  “Tim,” she begged. “Don’t let them make you do this to me. Whatever is inside you, tell them they cannot do this.”

  He kept digging, he was unnaturally strong. She stared in sick fascination as the minutes passed. Already he had the six-foot-long hole three feet down. He shoveled like a machine hooked up to an invisible generator. Jill could not fathom that she was looking at the exact spot where she was going to spend the rest of creation. The hole where her body would be covered with dirt and then rot and turn into a skeleton. The very concept was too much for her, yet it gave her renewed strength. Through a haze of pain too violent to comprehend she managed to climb to her feet and stagger away from him into the tumbleweed. But he was not giving out Brownie points for effort. Over her shoulder, she watched as he calmly followed with his shovel upraised. His manner was so relaxed that she honestly could not believe he was going to strike her. Until the last instant.

  “No!” she screamed.

  The blade of the shovel hit her left side. She heard ribs splinter. She fell in a ball of agony. Still holding on to the shovel, he reached down and grabbed her by her long hair and pulled her toward the hole he had dug. It was to be a shallow grave, a short and bitter ceremony.