Posted on August 6, 2008

The Hole: Part 81

The light spread and intensified as they approached the Nephites. The crazies fell back, pushed away in a twenty foot radius, those closest to the edge throwing up their arms. Some screamed. Elliot could only barely hear them. Sounds coming through the light were muffled and had the warble of traveling in water. Beyond the crowd, the point of the temple rose, shimmering and still crawling with Moroni’s followers. He could hear himself breathing, could hear his heart beating and the crunch of his shoes on gravel. He could feel the warmth of Evajean’s hand. Elliot closed his eyes and let her lead him onward.

A time later–his sense of the passing minutes had become fluid–he opened his eyes. Ahead he could see a dock built out from the beach and into the water. As the Nephites cleared, he saw that it stretched the full distance to the temple. This was the path they’d take to enter Moroni’s domain. When his foot first landed on the wood, he realized he’d been holding his breath. He let it out and concentrated on walking.

The crazies milled about at the perimeter of the light, stretching their arms toward Elliot and Evajean, calling out to them, pleading. Elliot wondered if they knew what was happening, if they were aware that these two people had come to destroy their god. He thought so, but he felt no pity. They had ended his world and now he was going to end theirs.

Half way along the dock, Elliot noticed a hump rising in the water. As he watched, it settled back beneath the surface, only to return a distance away. Elliot’s attention felt slow in shifting, his skin pleasantly warmed by the light from Evajean. But he was able to focus on the thing out in the water and, after a moment, he saw it breach. It was one of the creatures, the same as those that’d chased them in the truck and had eaten Melvin. They were swimming in the Salt Lake, doing laps around Moroni’s temple. This is where they had come from, then. They were beings from the same realm as the mad king.

The crazies had dropped away as they progressed along the dock. A few swam along side, but most remained on the shore. Those on the temple kept their distance, too, jumping into the water as the sphere of light approached. Soon the path between Elliot and Evajean and the steps leading to the top of the temple was entirely clear. At the top of the pyramid, hovering above the apex, was a purple ball of light, no bigger than a man. Elliot could barely make out a flow of energy coming from this, erupting up into the sky. He looked up and saw it spread away into the distance in all directions. The clouds above shimmered. The temple was the source of the creatures and, it seemed, the barrier as well.

Evajean stopped walking. They were within only paces of the temple’s stone steps. The light no longer came from her but, instead, from all around them. Elliot could feel it inside his body, shedding heat as it burst forth. Evajean whispered and, over the sound of the water and the calls of the crazies, he heard her.

“We’re nearly done,” she said.

There was a moment, the briefest of flashes, when Elliot wanted to turn and run, to return to Virginia and let the world end without him. He could still save Evajean, even as he’d failed to save Callie and Clarine. But the moment passed, so quickly he barely remembered it. He turned and put his arms around Evajean, squeezing her against his chest, smelling her hair and the dust in her clothes. Her jacket smelled of Hope, too, the dog’s scent rubbed deeply in by all the times she’d cradled him close to her.

“Then we finish it,” he said into her ear.

She nodded and pulled away. She looked up into his face and smiled. “I think we already have,” she said. “It’s over. He just doesn’t know it yet.” She tilted her head in the direction of the temple’s peak.

Elliot looked–and would have fallen back except for the supreme calm that had washed over him earlier. Moroni climbed from his fortress, a beast easily matching the horrors he had wrought.

Arms clawed up the sides of the temple, dozens of them, twisting and loose like tentacles but with recognizable joints and huge hands. These were covered in fingers, grey and slick and hooking out in all directions, like a carnival freak in a jar. The arms pulled the mad king’s weight out of the water, a semicircle of toothy flesh that surrounded the pyramid on three sides. It was like a hood unveiling, as if the temple being prepared for rain or protected with shade. This slid upward until it had reached the temple’s height and then came forward and down, smothering the stone and steps. The arms continued all across its surface, groping bristles of vaguely human appendages. The palm of each opened into a black hole, not a mouth, but an empty cavity, out of which came a thousand screeching babbles, the calls of the crazies, but terribly magnified and shrill.

Moroni finished rising from the waters of the Great Salt Lake and hovered over the temple, a god atop his throne. It’s body rippled and writhed, the hands along the underside holding fast to the stone, while those across the top grasped futilely at the air. Steam rose from it and washed over Elliot and Evajean. And then, out of the cacophony hands, a voice emerged.

I DESPISE YOU, it said, in a myriad of pitches and volumes. I HAVE DESPISED YOU SINCE I FIRST WAS.

Elliot ignored it and kept walking. Evajean paused only a moment before following. She caught up to walk along side him, taking his hand again. The light was blinding now, Moroni only visible as a silhouette.

YOU ARE NOT READY FOR THIS, the god continued. TURN BACK AND I SHALL CALL OFF MY ARMIES. TURN BACK AND I WILL PROTECT YOU.

Elliot shook his head. “No,” he said softly.

I WAS FIRST, Moroni said. The arms twisted and snatched at the sky, more frantic than before. THE OTHER IS AN IMPOSTOR. HE WILL NOT SAVE YOU. YOU ONLY GIVE THE WORLD OVER TO HIM.

“Others will see that he fails, too,” Evajean said. They were half way up the side of the temple, Moroni’s bulk blocking out the sun. The light filled the cave of flesh and stone.

YOU CANNOT DO THIS. YOU ARE NOT ABLE. YOU WILL FALTER BEFORE THIS ENDS.

Elliot knew what would happen then and, remembering Callie and Clarine and all the other deaths he’d experienced, he was glad for it. What was left for him? He felt Evajean’s hand relax in his. She knew it, too. They finished their walk.

The hands strained for them as they took their final steps up the pyramid’s slope. But Moroni was forced back by the light. Mighty and strong, Elliot thought. Together we are mighty and strong.

The last of the steps passed beneath their feet. They stood on the peak and looked into the sphere of light, the hole through which Moroni had come, the hole they had set out to find.

“Elliot,” Evajean said, and even over Moroni’s screaming the words were clear.

He took her into his arms and, together, they walked through.

* * *

The boy blinked. His hands hurt and he dropped the stone he’d been carrying. It was small but its edges were rough and it was heavy for a boy so small. He watched it roll away from his feet, then rubbed his palms on his jeans.

Overhead, the sky flashed, like lightning from everywhere, and then faded to its original color. The boy wondered what that color was, realizing he remembered nothing of where he was or how he’d come to be there. He looked around.

A warehouse was off to his left and on the right was a ring of trailers, shining in the morning sun. He appeared to be alone. Behind him, the skyline of the city was unfamiliar, as was the landscape it rose out of. He recalled seeing pictures in a textbook once, and knew he was in the West. He wondered at this, too, for he’d been born in Boston and spent every year of his life there.

The trailers had windows and doors and looked like tiny houses. He began walking toward them, hoping somebody would be home, somebody who might be able to tell him how he got here.

He made it to the first one and tried the door and found it locked. There were many other trailers, however, and the boy wasn’t concerned. He’d find another person eventually. He wasn’t hunger or thirsty and he didn’t have to pee. He had time.

Three more trailers yielded the same result. He was at the door of the forth, reaching out for the knob, when he heard the sound from inside. There was a scrambling and then a dog barked. The boy smiled. A dog wasn’t as good as a person, but it was good. He grabbed the door and discovered it was unlocked. He pulled it open.

A small, black puppy stood there, staring up at him. The dog began to growl, then stopped and sniffed the air. It glanced up at the boy and yipped. He bent down and reached out with his hand. The dog took a step forward, stretched its neck, and smelled him. Then it barked again.

The boy made a calming noise and patted the animal on the head. The puppy pushed against his hand. “Hi there,” the boy said. The dog cocked its head. “My name’s Rodney. My friends call me Rod.” He rubbed the dog behind the ears. “You can call me Rod if you want.”

The dog nuzzled into his arms. The boy picked it up and scratched its stomach. Then the two of them set out toward the city.

THE END

Thank you for reading my first novel. I do hope you enjoyed it. And, if you did, my second serial is already available. It’s something completely different: KARAOKE QUINTESSENCE.