“No.”
“What are those?” Kimberley asked Rachel, pointing at the ash-like mounds littered around the place.
“What’s left of them,” Rachel said. “What’s left of the ones that froze out and were left behind.”
“You mean the book did this to them?”
“Yes,” the little girl said. “They used to go with their dead, but they don’t do that anymore.”
“Wonder why,” Aiden said as he held David, who had stopped struggling.
“They almost took the book this time, Kim,” Rachel began.
Kimberley noted the fear in the strange girl’s voice. Rachel had also called her by name for the first time. The Portwood police sergeant felt protective.
“I want to see my parents!” David cried, again.
“They’ll soon be back,” Aiden replied. “They left us a short while ago.”
“I don’t believe you,” David said. “They’re in our car. Let me see them.”
“They’re dead,” Rachel said. “They have really left us.”
Stunned by Rachel’s insensitivity, Aiden released David, who ran up to the front windshield and gaped at the black forms strapped to the Sienna’s front seats. He started crying.
“Now, see what you’ve done,” Kimberley accused Rachel, glaring at the little girl while walking past.
“Yeah, see what you’ve done,” an angry Aiden directed at Rachel as he followed the police sergeant. “I hope you’ll go console him now.”
“He would have found out sooner or later,” Rachel said, frowning all of a sudden. “How did he survive the first and…and second attack?”
“No time for that now,” Kimberley said, stepping away from the Toyota Sienna. “We need to get to Freetown as quickly as possible and find Ezra.” Actually, she had thought of that same question moments ago.
“What about him?” Aiden wondered aloud, pointing at Sankoh’s son.
“David, come with us,” Kimberley urged, and the boy rejected the idea by shaking his head. “I hate to say this,” the sergeant-turned-scientist said, “but he’s not our priority now.”
“Maybe his people will come looking for him, or someone would definitely drive by soon,” Aiden added, deep in thought. “Nobody should go through this.”
“Remember I warned that this would happen, Kim,” Rachel reminded the sergeant. “I could have stood my ground if not for you two.”
“And if you had done that, we wouldn’t have made it this far by now,” Aiden said.
“Yeah, maybe, but David’s parents would still be alive by now,” Rachel shot back.
Kimberley sighed as she watched David crying near the Sienna’s front end. She reached into her pant’s side pocket and brought out something she had always felt was lying right there in the pocket. A mobile phone. “Maybe he won’t come with us,” she said, “but we can still call for help.”
The phone at the other end rang twice before someone picked up the call. “Emergency, may I help you?”
“Yes, I came across an accident on my way to Freetown from Hastings,” Kimberley lied. “I think the only living victim is suffering from Ebola, hence I cannot help him since I’m not protected.”
“Name, please?”
“Doctor Katie Halverson, Médecins Sans Frontières.”
“Okay, doctor, we’ll take it from here,” the operator at the other end said and hung up.
“Thanks,” Kimberley said, putting back her cellphone. She looked at David one last time, smiled at him and turned away. Starting up the dusty road, with Aiden and Rachel closely behind her, Kimberley sighed. The boy was not bleeding from the nose. That meant he might just have the common cold, but calling for help using Ebola as an excuse was necessary since she wasn’t sure about his condition, and they had exposed themselves to him for no fault of theirs. If David was infected, her only hope now lay on their having several days to a few weeks on their hands before manifesting symptoms of the disease and putting people they come in contact with at risk.
“Must we walk?” Aiden complained.
“We need to keep walking until we’re picked up,” Rachel said. “We can’t wait around for a third attack. It will take them time to regroup since they just lost many, but we need to be on the move. We can’t just wait or hang around for them.”
“If only we had a car,” Aiden groaned, trudging on alongside Kimberley. “We can’t outpace or outrun these guys, you know, but we can quickly get to Freetown and find Mr. Ezra if we had a car.”
“You have a point,” Rachel agreed.
“There could be a fatal accident if we’re in a car next time they attack us,” Kimberley reasoned. “The open could be our best chance of survival now.” Unnatural cold permeated the atmosphere as soon as she finished uttering these words, and she turned to a frightened Rachel, eyes questioning.
“They’re coming back, aren’t they?” Aiden asked. “What do we….”
Everything became a blur as the rushing wind swept Aiden off his feet and pushed Kimberley back towards the Sienna. The boy from Portwood crashed to the ground as Rachel shrieked away.
“What’s going on?” Aiden cried, trying to grab and hold on to some small shrubs for dear life. Kimberley struggled to maintain her balance to his left. Rachel he couldn’t spot in the confusion surrounding him, but he knew he just heard her voice.
“Stay together!” she kept shouting despite the din made by the howling wind. “Stay together! They want to separate us!”
From the corner of his eyes, Aiden noticed that David had left the Toyota’s side. The African boy could be shielding himself behind the vehicle, he thought. A better situation than the scenario he’d found himself in at the moment as he tried to maintain his grip on the little shrubs keeping him from going backward.
Just then, someone pulled him up from the ground. Kimberley knelt before him, her knees going behind the small deep-rooted shrubs for support. The Portwood police officer struggled to maintain her grip on Rachel’s right hand as well. Aiden followed her lead and hooked his shoes behind the little plants nearest to him, immediately appreciating the additional stability this action gave him and the woman before him, who’d been pulling him in order to prevent the unearthly wind from pushing him back to the car.
“Can’t…Can’t hold you two anymore!” Kimberley cried, feeling her grip on the two kids loosen. “I’m feeling tired!”
Aiden also felt drowsy. Like it was bed time. “I’m sleepy!” he warned.
“Noooo!” Rachel said. “Don’t let them separate us! They’re trying to weaken you two before they….”
Kimberley screamed and let go of the two before her. She saw Aiden fighting with the wind to remain where he knelt before she blacked out.
Aiden quickly caught Rachel’s free hand before the wind uprooted him from his good foundation. Both kids fell and slid back dangerously with Kimberley’s body. The Toyota’s front end blocked their path, sticking them underneath the car’s front windshield and hood, while Kimberley’s body went round the car’s windshield and disappeared from view.
The wind swept round the heavy automobile’s streamlined shape, allowing the vehicle to remain where it lay on its roof.
Aiden felt helpless and worn out. He peered round the Sienna’s windshield and gaped at Kimberley’s body wrapped round a sturdy shrub a few feet away, He turned to Rachel, who shook with despair. “They’re coming, right?” he asked her.
“Yes,” the girl said, tightly clutching her precious book to her chest.
“Is that not cold?” Aiden asked her drowsily, nodding sluggishly towards the book.
“Yes….Yes, it is,” Rachel agreed, her teeth beginning to chatter.
“I can help you…keep warm,” Aiden offered, beginning to draw her close to himself.
“But…But you’re not a…Bookbearer,” Rachel shouted, halting him. “You–You could both…die this time!” she added. “Aiden, I’m so…so sorry!”
“Kim’s not dead,” Aiden s
aid. “I–I don’t believe it.”
“She…She could be dead,” Rachel said. “I’ve seen this before....” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “They–They attacked her from behind.”
“Not true!” Aiden cried, starting forward a bit shakily. “Kimberley!” he shouted. “Please, get up!” He felt heavy, and couldn’t move another inch. Suddenly dazed, he blinked twice before falling on his face.
Rachel screamed. Long hands got to her book from before her, their owners whining horrendously. She tightened her arms around the book as the weaker demons froze off with the wind. Despite the cold power emanating from the ancient scroll and surrounding the little girl like a force shield, more infernal hands got to her arms after brazenly penetrating the spherical region surrounding her. These unearthly appendages struggled to unclasp the girl’s hands from the white book. A second set of spirits reached out and started pulling the book out of her grip, hoping to succeed as soon as her arms failed her. “Father, save me!” Rachel shouted in despair, feeling her will to fight giving way with the strength in her arms. “Father, help me!”
She had repeated every defensive word he ever taught her that fateful day just as she had faithfully done ever since she fled the Mine. Why were things no longer working as they should? Her arms felt weak, as if they were infused with a drowsy spell.
Since the demons could not get into her mind, Rachel realized that they had gone after her physical members instead, especially her upper limbs. Try as much as she could, her arms refused to obey her mind anymore. Her prayers were failing her. Her world was crashing down. The hope of getting back to the Mine was fast fading. Nothing was working anymore. Her will, and arms in extension, had lost the battle for her.
The Gray Ones had won.
Suddenly, the torment her arms were going through ceased. She tried to maintain her grip on the revered book, but her fingers felt numb. The white book slipped from underneath her arms and she thought the end had come.
It turned into ice and Rachel stared at the savior her father had sent to rescue her. Aiden held the book with her, his teeth chattering as some of the Gray Ones, weakened by their lengthy stay near the unearthly powers emanating from the book, burst into ashes all around the children. Seeing failure staring them in the face for the umpteenth time, the stronger demons retreated as the howling wind slowly faded away.
“How did you do that?” an amazed Rachel asked Aiden, trying to resist the cold surrounding her.
“No idea,” Aiden said, looking around. “Guess it worked, though.”
“Yeah, for now. Are…Are you really from your town?”
“Yes,” Aiden replied with surprise. “Why do you ask?”
“I–I really don’t know.”
Rachel had a quizzical look on her face as she sat there staring at Aiden, who appeared uncomfortable with that level of attention. “Kimberley!” he remembered, dashing out of their partial enclave with renewed vigor. The Portwood police sergeant raised her head and uncoiled from the shrub. Aiden stopped before her, delighted to see her alive.
“Look…. Look for David,” Kimberley told the boy, sitting up. “I blacked out again, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, but you’re still alive, that’s what’s important, Kim,” Aiden said, turning away to look for Sankoh’s son.
David had hidden behind the Sienna all through the third attack the Gray Ones orchestrated. He stepped out when the foreign boy approached him.
“You okay?” Aiden asked the West African boy.
“Yes,” David said. “I thought it would rain.”
“Me, too.”
“Your sister was so scared of the wind that she could not stop crying.”
“Yes,” Aiden agreed, looking the other boy over. “Sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“No, I will wait here. Someone will come for me.”
“Okay, Aiden, let’s go,” Kimberley called out to her younger companion from the Sienna’s front end. She hoped someone would stop for the African boy and take him to a hospital. She just wished she could do more than leave him out in the open without any help for his sickness save for a call to the Ebola health center in Kerry town. With Aiden following her, she turned and walked towards Rachel.
Wait.
“Disease!”
“And what about that?” Aiden asked.
“I know this is far-fetched, but infection could be exactly why David can’t be killed by the Gray Ones,” Kimberley said.
“Is that possible?”Aiden wondered aloud. “I mean, he’s not infected, right?”
“He could have a cold like his father said,” Kimberley aired grudgingly. “For one, he’s not showing any visible symptoms of Ebola if he has it, so I don’t know for sure if he is infected with the virus or just having a common cold, and I don’t know whether this protection from the Gray Ones comes before the symptoms show or afterwards in the case of Ebola.”
“Wow,” Aiden said. “I can’t understand all that, you know?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Kimberley apologized. “Forgot you were a kid.”
After awhile, Aiden turned to the officer. “David’s nose was bleeding when I met him behind the car,” he began.
“Oh no!” Kimberley exclaimed. “I was right after all.”
“Is that important?” Aiden asked.
“He must have cleaned it with his T-shirt in the car,” Kimberley told him. “A hemorrhaging nose indicates a more deadly strain of the Ebola virus, and we’ve ignorantly exposed ourselves to this boy.”
“At least, we now know what might have protected him from the Gray Ones, right?” Aiden summarized.
“Of course,” the sergeant agreed, trying to appear calm. “Any infection like the common cold, or Ebola if I was wrong about the common cold, could be the reason for that. Whatever it is, he’s being protected by the very same thing he’s suffering from.”
“Okay,” Rachel said, a puzzled look on her face. She’d kept to herself for a good reason. Aiden’s help near the Sienna still baffled her.
“But all this will not matter if we find this Ezra guy in time and leave this place as soon as possible,” Kimberley concluded. “Though we have to mind how we relate with people now since we’re potential carriers of this crazy disease I still don’t know how I got to know so much about.”
Aiden was quizzically staring at her.
“These people will remain here long after we’ve gone, so we need to be careful from now on,” Kimberley broke down for him.
“Right,” Rachel grumbled.
“That’s confusing,” Aiden said. “You’re implying there are millions of alternate times and worlds out there?”
“That’s comforting to know,” Rachel chuckled. “The book is mysterious. I don’t think that’s what she’s implying.”
“Shouldn’t we just worry about the mystery we’re witnessing right now?” Aiden began. “And if there are millions of alternate times and worlds out there, we really need to leave before the infection spreads through us?”
“No need to worry,” Kimberley told him. “We still have several days to a few weeks before we start showing symptoms of the infection if we have the virus, and there is no transmission if those symptoms don’t show, so we should be long gone before then. Am I saying too much?”
“Yes?” Rachel seemed frustrated. “We’ve got to focus on defeating the Gray Ones?”
“Of course,” Kimberley agreed.
They trudged on for a few more minutes.
“I helped Rachel fight off the Gray Ones this last time, Kim,” Aiden announced and Rachel glared at him.
“How?” Kimberley appeared lost.
“You know, I helped her hold the book and it felt cold, but they couldn’t fight her anymore.”
“That’s great,” Kimberley said dryly, frowning. “Yeah, maybe the three of us should hold it next time. Maybe that would end all our problems and take us back to Portwood.”
“You don’t believe me.” Aiden felt bad.
“You talk too much,” Rachel told him. “Thanks, though.”
“And I do believe you,” Kimberley added. “Thanks for saving all our lives.” Of course, the boy would front signs of bravery to cover his inadequacies in the face of the daunting situation they’d all found themselves in. A normal mammalian reaction to scenarios eliciting stark fear. She doubted the story.
“Did you notice that the small shrubs and grass all around us have dried up?” Aiden asked her.
“Yes, I did,” Kimberley replied, taking Rachel’s hand. “They leave nothing alive, right, Rachel?”
“Right,” the little girl said.
Moments later, the time-travelers set out towards Freetown, grateful to be alive amidst the madness all around them. A signpost they walked past announced to the world that the state capital was two miles away.
Overhead, a brewing storm darkened the sky.
* * *
The raging winds persisted, twirling up to the higher levels of the atmosphere with the fury unleashed on the local weather by the invisible entities exhibiting pitiless frustration in defeat. Howling with demonic annoyance at the four corners of the Earth and beyond, they duly ascertained their spiritual territory, expressing their sorrowful disappointment in an unearthly manner reminiscent of their former glory as Yahweh’s Angels of Perseverance.
They’d been beaten back again. No thanks to the powerful endowment granted the Bookmakers by their biggest enemy of the current mission. And as a result of this, the white book remained beyond their reach, in the hands of a little girl whose father had bestowed the greatest responsibility he would ever know, even as he lay dying on a cave floor.
The indescribable shapes of the Gray Ones shimmered, wafted and shifted about in the stormy atmosphere their anger had created way above any human settlement. Searching for answers to their faceless existence in the swishing silence of the physical logic all around them, they continued their grumbling in hell’s own language despite the fact that one of their worst enemies at the moment resided in that gloomy abode of unquenchable fire and brimstones. Of course, they knew that no concrete conclusion could ever be drawn from this pointless endeavor of questioning every aspect of their destiny while under punishment for disobeying Yahweh, yet they could not resist this boring habit honed over thousands of years of fruitless wandering.
The White Book Page 7