Ray wrapped his hands over Phoenix’s wrists.
“Save your strength. I’ll live.”
“Thanks to you, we will too,” Phoenix said, feeling his life force spread through his hands and into Ray. The scabs crumbled and fell away, the tissue surrounding Ray’s eyes sealing closed. The sockets were still gaping black holes, but the ruptured vessels became smooth.
“Thank—” Ray stopped, his heartbeat accelerating. “Did you hear that?”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
Ray rose and craned his ear to the cavern. It was hardly audible, but there it was.
Click…
Click…
He couldn’t find the breath to form words through the knot rising in his throat.
Click…
Click…
“There’s someone else in here,” he whispered, a split-second before the sound of the first soft hiss.
VI
IT LOWERED ITS HEAD FROM THE CEILING INTO THE CAVERN. THE LIGHT from the fire burned its retinas, but it no longer felt the pain. The obsession it had carried across the afterlife rendered all else irrelevant. It was so close now that it would not be denied. All of the others of its kind were now dead, it was sure. No longer could it taste their vile presence on the air. Only their spilled blood and rotting or burning flesh. It had even survived the master, whose violent passing still festered in its bones like parasites trying to burrow out from the marrow. In an instinctive way, it knew that it should no longer be upon the earth as well, but it was the fervor that had dragged it into this new incarnation that defied even death. It would have what belonged to it.
After a moment of adjusting to the blinding light, it was able to see them at the far end of the cavern, up on a rock ledge by the origin of the stench of his dead brethren. There were eight of them, all full of fresh blood that made its mouth water, but there was one that stood out from the others. He had an aura about him like the sun’s rays behind the eclipsing moon. Its heart accelerated until it had no choice but to release the hiss it had managed to hold off since it first saw the light in the room below from the fissure.
It slithered slowly out, flattening itself to the ceiling. They spoke in whispers, yet it could still distinguish their voices from the distance. They were distracted. None of them even looked in its direction. Narrowing its eyes to slits to minimize the glare, it crawled forward. Slowly. Inching along, it watched the ground beneath for the perfect spot to drop. A wash of shadows presented itself, shielded from them by a cluster of stalagmites. When it was content that their attention was diverted, it opened its palms and uncurled its toes, falling rapidly away from the ceiling. Righting itself in midair, it landed on all fours to dampen the sound of the impact.
It craned its head to the ledge above, waiting for any signs that it had been discovered.
Footsteps scuffed on the stone plateau and it held its breath. Voices followed, whispers designed not to be heard from afar.
They knew it was there.
It let out a hiss of frustration and scrabbled around the formation of upside down cones until it reached the base of the ledge, rising until it could compress its chest against the vertical stone. Talons clicking almost imperceptibly, it scaled the rock, urging itself upward without concern for speed, caring only for stealth. It closed its eyes when the voices were directly above it to keep from being seen, and held its breath.
They had heard it. There was no doubt, but they still had no clue where it was. By the tone of their voices and the resultant echoes, it could tell that they were looking deeper into the cavern. It may have lost the element of surprise, but they still couldn’t see it right under their noses.
Even as they stood directly above its head, it crept toward them. They would hear it eventually, but not until it was too late.
It could smell its quarry, so close now it could barely restrain itself. It needed the infusion of blood, knowing not why, only that nothing else in the world mattered.
Tensing the muscles in its arms and legs, it was just about to spring up over the edge when the voices startled it, coming from the left where they descended the stone staircase to the cavern floor. One by one they passed, winding around the rock wall until they each passed a paltry couple of feet under its heels. It measured their footfalls, counting five distinct entities now walking across the ground toward the dwelling, trying to be silent as they erroneously thought they had the upper hand.
The one it sought was still above and it knew without a doubt that it could easily slaughter three of them, especially wounded as they were. One smelled a shade shy of death, though recovering steadily. Another was sticky with perspiration laden with fear. And the third…the third smelled good enough to eat.
It waited until the sounds of footsteps behind it were nearly to the opposite wall of the cavern, every tendon in its body tightening in anticipation. A quiver rippled through its muscular form, emerging from its mouth as a hiss. It heard their gasps of terror and leapt upward, clearing the edge and alighting on its feet. Lowering its head, it extended the cape of scales under its chin, trilling it until it started to flap. It opened its wide mouth, showcasing multiple rows of hooked teeth, spittle spraying from its purple tongue. Flicking its wrists out to either side, its claws snapped open.
The light from its eyes spotlighted them where they stood in front of it, casting their cringing shadows onto the wall behind.
It hissed at them, unable to stand the hunt any longer.
The footsteps pounded across the cavern behind it, but they would never return in time.
Focusing on it prey, it launched itself into the air, preparing to tear its claws through muscle and tissue to free the spurting heat within.
VII
WHEN RAY SAID HE HEARD SOMETHING, PHOENIX KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HAD caused the sound. He had already felt the presence, a presence he knew all too well. It was the source of every misery he had been forced to endure, every waking nightmare. It radiated a sense of impending pain and dread that dripped through his pores and chilled his blood. Even beyond death it was still recognizable. He had known when he slashed the knife across the formerly human face and buried it into its cheek that the encounter wouldn’t be their last.
It was the Man, though now he was something else entirely.
Phoenix rose to his feet, swaying. He was utterly exhausted from transferring his life into the others to heal them, the same as he had been after the Man had descended upon him with the Swarm. Only now, the Man was the Swarm, the last remaining of God’s army of the damned, his passion, his obsession following him past the grave and into its rebirth. The Man had always told Phoenix that he belonged to him and that he would never allow anyone to take him away, but Phoenix had never truly understood the gravity of that statement until the Man had asphyxiated his own daughter with his blood as punishment for trying to free Phoenix. The fact that his terrible greed and envy had followed him through the netherworld didn’t surprise Phoenix any more than the fact that the same unquenchable desires had allowed him to survive the fall of the Swarm to stalk him now. He had always known that it would come to this, the two of them facing each other on the mortal plane with death and God’s favor at stake, but Phoenix knew the fate of false prophets. Richard had succumbed to the lure of power, and now Lord only knew what would become of him. The Man was no different. He had lost is flock, his Swarm, in his final play for power as the world was coming to an end, inflicting himself with stigmata by hammer and nails to deceive them.
In a way, Phoenix pitied him. Once upon a time, he had served God in the capacity of a minister, however misguided and zealous his means and motivations. He had brought hope to those who had none and led them into the light. His folly had been allowing himself to absorb their adoration, their worship, as the middle man instead of serving as a conduit to the Almighty. Perhaps Phoenix could find a way to send the Man into the arms of his forgiving God, of appealing to the soul that had once known the glory of the Lord.
The others hurried down the rock stairs toward the source of the lone hiss they had all heard from the shadows beneath, not knowing what they would do if they encountered the creature.
Phoenix allowed a weak smile upon his lips. They would all be safer down there anyway. The Man had come for him and him alone.
Ray still stood to his right, combing the silence beneath the thunder of descending footsteps, while Missy held onto his arm to steady him.
“Why don’t you guys go down there with the others?” he said, giving Missy’s hand a gentle squeeze. “They might need your help.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Missy whispered.
“Shhh!” Ray whispered, unable to hear anything.
“Please…” Phoenix whispered into her ear.
She turned to face him and he saw the hurt in her eyes. It made his heart ache to know that his words had inflicted her pain, but versus placing her in physical danger, it was a small price to pay.
“No,” she said. “You can hardly stand. Look at you. I’m not about to—”
“Shh!” Ray whispered more insistently. He thought he might have heard—
With a hiss like a ruptured oxygen tank, the black creature leapt up over the edge of the cliff and landed in front of them. Ray stumbled in retreat, tripping over his own feet. Phoenix pushed Missy aside, though not nearly as far as he had hoped.
The creature lowered itself closer to the ground, priming its muscles to strike. Its dewlap snapped open and shook, its long arms stretching to its sides, capped with claws like razors. Phoenix didn’t need to see the scar bisecting its brow or the maw in its cheek through which he could see rows of teeth to recognize the thing that had once been the Man. He could see it in the beast’s eyes, the same insane flame still burning within. Even when the Man had been mortal, the Man had always looked at him like a starving mongrel eyeing a slab of meat.
“I forgive you,” Phoenix whispered. “For all of the pain, for all of the years in darkness, and for the Woman…I forgive you.”
It hissed in response, spattering him with saliva and taking a step forward. Its nails clacked on the stone.
Below, the others shouted and raced back to help.
“I know that in your heart you had the most noble of intentions. You gave people the greatest of all gifts. You gave them hope. Look inside yourself, past the hatred and anger—”
It hissed even louder and lunged at him, stopping within inches so that their breath mingled between them. Phoenix could taste the festering meat rising from its gut, but couldn’t turn away. He could see the weakness in those glowing eyes. Somewhere, deep inside, his words were getting through to the Man.
“You gave yourself over to a higher power. You can make amends for allowing yourself to become corrupted. You were only human after all.”
Something softened behind the amoeboid black splotches on the surface of those golden orbs, but when it melted away, only the rage remained.
It raised both arms to strike him, never stealing its stare from his. He could feel how badly it wanted to tear the skin from his bones, but it hesitated. Maybe he was reaching that last drop of humanity flowing through its pus-like blood. Maybe it—
The creature expelled a tortured hiss, victimized by the emotions brewing inside. It whirled away from him and slashed at the nearest object.
Missy screamed, droplets of her blood patterning the side of Phoenix’s face.
Something inside of Phoenix snapped. No more reasoning with it. No more futile attempts at logic. A seething wave of vengeance overwhelmed him.
Missy fell in slow motion, dark fluids arcing from the parallel tears through the front of her jacket. Her eyes sought his before she hit the ground, her face a rictus of pain.
Phoenix turned back to the Man, looking deep into its gecko-like eyes. The rage had vanished as though lashing out had absolved it of the emotion, but Phoenix couldn’t see it through his own.
A blinding light blasted from behind his albino eyes, growing out of his pink irises in white hot rays. He grabbed the creature by the shoulders, the light enveloping both of them like a star. Phoenix screamed and the light exploded outward. At the core of the blast was a feeling of hatred that he had never in his life known, changing him in that moment forever.
The searing white aura expanded throughout the cavern, momentarily blinding all of them. Adam and Mare bumped into each other on the stairs, bracing themselves before Jill stumbled into them. Evelyn managed to stop at the base, drawing Jake even tighter to her chest and leaning against the rock wall.
Ray felt the heat and rolled onto his stomach to shield his face.
Phoenix’s scream trailed off into a moan, the light returning to him as though sucked by a great vacuum through his eyes. When his sight returned, he was staring into the black remains of the creature’s eyes. Its entire form was now crisp charcoal, which crumbled into a pile at his feet.
Phoenix dropped to his knees and began to cry, his strength all but spent. Never had he even suspected that such power resided inside of him and it scared him. He had used it to kill in cold blood. The Man had turned to him in repentance and he had incinerated him.
Worse still, he didn’t regret doing so. He had learned to hate, and nothing would ever be the same again.
Dropping to all fours, he crawled to Missy, collapsing on top of her. He pressed his palms onto the wet gashes on her chest, listening to her sputter and choke on the blood, and forced his life out through his flesh and into her. He gave her everything he had, everything he was, until consciousness fled and darkness drew him into its black embrace.
Now that he had embraced the darkness as well, he feared it might never let him go.
VIII
ADAM MOVED THE LAST OF THE ROCKS OUT FROM BEHIND THE WHEELS OF the cart in the tunnel. They hadn’t heard a sound from the other side in a long time, not since Phoenix had killed the lone creature that had circumvented their defenses. The event remained unspoken between them. While it troubled all of them, it was apparent that Phoenix was allowing it to consume him. He had saved all of their lives. Inside that cavern, they had been unprepared to face even a lone member of the Swarm and likely would all have been butchered were it not for Phoenix’s intervention. All of them now wore matching sunburns on their faces and any other section of exposed skin, their clothing scorched.
But they were alive.
So many had lost their lives, friends that had been with them since they’d arrived at Mormon Tears, friends whose sacrifices would not be in vain. It was now up to them to not only endure, but to celebrate the gift they had been given. The gift of life, of the future.
Of hope.
Evelyn sidled up to Adam and took hold of the handle between the wheels, waiting for Adam to do the same without a word. Together they drew the contraption back onto the stone ledge, a gust of cold air following it. The only sound was the wind whistling through the corridor, the only scent that of the carnage riding its currents.
Adam took her hand and looked her in the eyes, sharing in her relief and fear. Turning back to the dark tunnel, he led her within, glancing back over his shoulder to see the others waiting nervously to follow. Nodding, they took the first steps forward into the unknown, walking through the deep shadows until the light of the outside world reached into the darkness to welcome them with the sounds of whinnying and crunching.
Snow still blew across the mouth of the cave, though it had already slowed dramatically, the flakes shrinking in size and number. The beach was littered with corpses, the smell overpowering, but if the amphibious winged seahorses on the shoreline had their way, it wouldn’t be for long. They moved from one stake to the next, tearing away the reptilian skin of the dead to feast on the meat beneath. They paid no mind to the survivors as they emerged from the mountain and into the open air.
Evelyn looked to either side toward her kelp patches. The pipes had been knocked loose and the plants trampled, but it was a resilient species, and they could always reins
tall the heating tubes. She gave Adam’s hand a gentle squeeze and leaned into his shoulder, staring out across the lake to the east, where the rising sun stained the clouds a warm pink. There were even patches were the golden rays slanted through the slowly dissipating masses for the first time in what seemed like forever, glimmering on the white caps of the waves in a great section of open water between them and the distant island. Chunks of white floated in it like icebergs in an arctic sea.
They lined up underneath the arch of the cave, side by side, all of them facing a world they would never see the same way again. The terror was still out there, but for now they shared the warmth of the promise of the future like the soft touch of the golden rays reaching down from the heavens to caress their features.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Mare asked, wrapping his arms around Jill and bringing her to him.
“We start over,” Adam said. “We honor the memory of those who gave their lives so that we could survive by taking full advantage of the opportunity they’ve given us.”
“Is it over?” Ray asked, wishing he could see the source of the warmth upon his cheeks and the waves splashing against the ice in the distance.
“No,” Jake said. He held one of Phoenix’s hands while Missy clung to the other. It was clearly visible that something had changed about Phoenix, his features hardening, his eyes not nearly so round with innocence, roiling with turmoil within. “We still have a lot left to do.”
Phoenix released both of their hands and walked out into the snow, his eyes affixed to the eastern horizon. He shivered, not from the cold or its contrast with the sun perforating the clouds, but from the darkness that simultaneously repelled and called to him. It was inside of him now, like a parasite. He wanted to get it out, just reach inside and tear it from within, but he was scared to death of what might happen to him if he loosed it on the outside world again, or worse…what it would do to those he loved.
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