“Okay!” Sam’s casual jog turned into a sprint. “Let’s get going faster.”
A nurse injected a clear fluid into Sam’s arm. The heart monitor beeped quietly. The doctor spoke to Beverly and Delaney. “The infection’s spread into his brain. It’s slowing down and should dissipate, but we’re fearful that it could cost him some brain cells, maybe even cause amnesia.”
“And his surgery?”
“We’ve rescheduled it for tomorrow morning. We can’t risk anything like that until this thing’s run its course.” A pause. He cleared his throat. “We are doing the best we can.”
“I know. Thank you.”
He disappeared down the hall after another awkward silence. Bev stared at her child as a nurse exited the room. Her phone rang. She took it out of her pocket and looked fearfully at the screen. “Oh, no…”
Del approached Sam as Bev stepped out to take the call. She touched his arm. Fought back a cough. Whispered, “Don’t give up, Sam. Don’t you dare give up…”
His lips were parched and cracking. His head spun. He was dizzy. Exhausted. And the road seemed infinite. Nedry snored as Sam carried him, a dry tongue dangling from his mouth. The animal was getting heavier and heavier as the day went on. He had no idea how long he’d been walking.
Then, suddenly, he felt a slight vibration.
Startled, Nedry woke up and hopped to the ground.
Sam felt his pockets: his cell phone.
His freaking phone.
In all the chaos, all the confusion, he’d never thought twice to check his pockets for his phone and try to make a call.
He didn’t recognize the number on the screen but answered anyway. “Hello?”
Sobbing. A faint female voice. A southern twang of which he’d become so fond. “Sam…Samuel Pierce?”
“Delaney!” He felt renewed strength. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
A pause. She was obviously trying to keep her voice low. “It’s dark here, Samuel Pierce…”
“Keep calm! Where are you? Where did it take you?”
“You have to come get me,” she sniffled.
“I know! And that’s exactly what I’m going to do! Now where are you?”
“Just keep following the road. Please don’t give up on it, Samuel Pierce. Please don’t give up on—”
The monstrous, inhuman roar of the dragon that had captured her screeched from the phone’s speaker.
“It’s coming back,” she whispered. “Please don’t give up on me.”
“I won’t! I promise I’m going to find you and—”
Click. Disconnected.
A gentle breeze whistled by. Sam stared at the phone in his trembling hand. His hopelessness was replaced by fury. He squeezed it. Tried to contain himself. To bottle up the rage.
He was distracted by Nedry’s squeaky chitters. The animal was excitedly hopping up and down at the base of a nearby sandbank, his eyes wide.
“What? What is it?”
More squeals. Chirps. Like a baby alligator. He started up the hill, looking back at Sam and signaling him onward.
“Fine. But it better not be another stupid butterfly.”
He stumbled up the dune and stood back in absolute awe at the sight: a black tower of steel stretching hundreds of feet into the sky, all alone in the middle of the desert. It was about a mile away, but still gigantic, even from a great distance. There was a cluster of dark storm clouds hanging over it, dowsing it in shade.
“That’s…weird…”
Nedry bounced impatiently.
“We can’t go to it, though. It’s off the path.”
The dinosaur stopped and scowled. Pouting.
“Don’t give me that look. We have to keep moving forward, not get distracted by…whatever that’s supposed to be.”
There was a crackle of lighting. Stray rain showered the edifice.
Fresh, crisp, cool rain.
Nedry took off, his feet kicking up dust.
“Ah, screw it.”
Sam tightened the backpack and followed. As they got closer, he could see that the outside of the building was swathed in black piping and steel doors, with dozens of narrow walkways connecting them like some enormous vertical maze. It looked very strong and industrial, a building that emphasized function over fashion. It was decorated with giant padlocks and keys.
When he and Nedry reached the entrance, they were confronted by a vault door and a combination lock as big as a car tire. Nedry sniffed and kicked the door curiously.
“What is this place?”
“This place?” came the gruff voice of the Mysterious Figure as he approached in a trench coat. “Well, now this is a very special place.”
“What makes it so special?” Sam looked the tower up and down. “And why’s it in the middle of nowhere?”
“Most memories get lost in the desert of our subconscious. Others, well…we choose to hold on to others a little more tightly.”
“Can you stop speaking in code for five minutes and actually help me?”
“Alright, fine. You want to see what’s inside?” He banged on the dial of the humongous lock. “Then twice to the right, once to the left, once to the right.”
“What?”
“It’s how you unlock one of these. Three numbers. Pass twice right, once left, once right, then open sesame.”
“Okay…” Sam’s frustration slowly started to rear itself again. “If you’re just my creation, then how come you know more than I do?”
“I don’t. You used to use these types of locks when you were in high school. I can’t know anything you don’t.”
“But that was fifteen freaking years ago! I can’t possibly remember that.”
“Remembering something is not the same as knowing something, Samuel. Our brain records everything we see, hear, read, feel, everything. It’s our ability to recall it that gets muddled. Me? I’m pure consciousness. I recall everything.”
He rolled his eyes. “This is turning into a total mindfu—”
There was a metallic clang as Nedry tried ramming the door with his forehead but fell back, grunting in pain. When Sam turned back around, the Mysterious Figure had once again vanished, leaving only him, his dinosaur, this tower and an oversized combination lock.
“Alright,” he clapped his hands together, “let’s do this…” The lock moved easier than he thought it would, but he was lost as far as the number combination. He tried his birthday, Logan’s birthday, his social security number, everything. All to no avail. Then, right when he was at his most rattled, a set of digits popped into his head. They’d been stuck there for a long time now. Taking a breath, he heaved the dial and entered: Eleven, four, twelve.
There was a click. Then a hiss. Then, with a loud metal groan, the door started to open…
Beep. Beep. Beep. The tone went on, and on, and on. That gentle reminder that he was still alive. Still breathing. Still thinking. Still dreaming. And still fighting.
“What are you doing?” Logan asked as a nurse injected clear fluid into Sam’s arm. “Does that hurt him?”
“No, no, not at all.” She pretended to smile. “It’s just some medicine to help his infection go away.”
Delaney glanced up from a photo album.
“Is uncle Sam going to die?”
“I…” The nurse was caught off guard. “No, no, of course not. He’ll be fine.” She finished and patted the little boy on the head like an obedient pet before booking it out the door.
He sighed and sat next to Del, his feet swinging on the pintsized couch. “I hope uncle Sam doesn’t die.”
“I…I hope so, too…”
He looked down at the album. She had it opened to a picture of Sam embracing a gorgeous young woman. They were both in dress clothes.
Logan pointed. “That’s her.”
“Her?”
“Uncle Sam’s old girlfriend. But she got married.”
“Oh, I heard…” She quickly flipped the page. There was a picture
of Sam as a toddler in a dinosaur costume. She tried to hold in a laugh.
“Uncle Sam used to talk about you a lot.”
“Really? When?”
“When I was little.”
“Well, sweetie, that don’t make no sense considering we just met.” She grinned to keep things jovial. There was already enough negativity in the room with the kid’s uncle strapped to a bunch of machines keeping him alive.
“I guess you’re right.” He looked away. Yawned. “Maybe it was about someone just like you.”
19
The Lock Box Tower
The vault door waned open. Inside was a tunnel, dimly lit by flickering lights. Steam rose up through a grated floor. The walls were covered in drippy pipes. The sound of machinery chugged all around. It was like something out of a horror film. Nedry looked about cautiously, his bravery abruptly squashed, and hugged Sam’s leg as they stepped inside.
The vault door closed on its own.
They looked around. “What the hell is this place?”
Nedry barked and snarled at something down the corridor. Through the vapor, a silhouette coalesced. Then a figure. It looked like a human, except only about half the size and hunched over. It sprung along the floor like an injured chimp. As it got closer, he could see that it was wearing a suit, like a tuxedo, and carrying an oil lamp. Its skin was green and hairless. More like a creature than a man.
“Who is here?” Its voice was slithery and raspy, like how he imagined a snake would sound if it could speak. Vile, venomous, nasty. Yet weak.
“Uh, Sam Pierce…”
Nedry scowled as the being approached. It looked up at Sam with big, black eyes. Its face was bizarrely grotesque and distorted, the very definition of ugly. When it smiled, it exposed a mouth full of rotting teeth, blackened around the edges, “Ah, Sam-oo-el is here.”
“And just what are you supposed to be? An homage or a rip-off?”
“I am Jinx,” it bowed respectfully. “The Keeper of the Lock Box Tower.”
“The Lock Box Tower? What exactly do you keep locked up?”
“Whatever you desire, Sam-oo-el.”
“Okay…”
“I can show you, if you want.”
“Um…sure?”
Jinx turned and hobbled down the hall, waving him on. “Come, come. I will bring you to the top floor. That’s where all the good ones are.”
“The good whats?”
“Come, come!”
The…thing…led them to an old, grimy lift with a single lever. Jinx pressed it up and they started up through the tower, passing dozens of floors. Through the wiry walls, Sam caught glimpses of images from his childhood: going to prom alone and leaving alone, having his father boo him during a soccer game when he missed a goal, picking out a ring for—
Ding.
The elevator stopped. Jinx opened the door, revealing a wide, empty hallway. “Here we are! The top! Your favorite place to visit.”
They stepped out onto a bare concrete floor. Slowly. Sam felt a chill. He had the feeling that this wasn’t a place he wanted to be. Yet at the same time it was a place he’d been before. A place he visited often. In the darkest corners of his mind.
“Here, this one’s one of your favorites!” Jinx led them to what could best be described as an exhibit on one side of the hall, separated by a pane of glass. Inside was a recreation of a living room. Sunlight seeped in through two shattered windows. A dirty couch sat covered in stains and rips. Cigarette smoke drifted up from an ashtray on a side table. And on the floor, a child lay cross-legged and wrapped in a blanket, eating a bowl of cereal and watching cartoons on an old TV.
Sam stared. Nedry squished the side of his face to the glass to get a better look.
“This is one of your favorites, correct?” Jinx rubbed his hands together.
“Yes.” He could barely breathe. Barely blink. His heart swelled. “First thing I saw when I came down to walk her to school every morning. Right there in that same spot.”
There was shouting from somewhere in the distance. A couple arguing. Violently. The child turned, frightened. Blond hair. Piercing blue eyes. Sam quickly looked away.
“You wish to see no more, Sam-oo-el?”
“No…no…” He fought back a tear. And anger. “I don’t want to see any more.”
“Then come, come…” It hopped to the next exhibit down the hall. This one was worse. It had a more stagey quality. A hospital bed. The same little girl, lying down and hooked up to machines. She was surrounded by family singing Happy Birthday.
“She had her last birthday in the hospital,” Sam said, gazing inside. “Everyone tried to keep her spirits up by telling her what they’d plan for her next one, but…” He shook his head. Let a tear escape. He stared at the little girl’s glum face as she reluctantly opened a present, her graying hair falling from her head. “She knew. She always knew. She was smarter than half the people in that room.”
Nedry cooed. Dipped his eyes.
“I thought you said these were my favorite memories?”
“Well, I assume,” Jinx shrugged. “Why else would Sam-oo-el always come back to them?”
They moved on. The next exhibit showed the same hospital room. Except it was dark and cold. It was empty except for the little girl, who squirmed on the ground as she reached for a ringing telephone. Her IVs had been yanked out and were spewed all over the floor.
“I wasn’t even there but I’ve played this moment over and over again in my head,” Sam said.
Jinx nodded in agreement. “You do fancy this one, master.”
“The adults took shifts watching her. It was my dad’s turn. But he was too busy screwing some nurse.” He clenched his fists. Felt his body shudder. “The phone rang in her room. He wasn’t there. So she reached over to try and grab it but fell out of her bed. All her tubes fell out. God knows how long she was there. She got an infection…” The lights went out in the exhibit. Pitch black. Sam stared into space. “She died a week later.”
A silence. Nedry nuzzled his leg to try and comfort him. But it wasn’t working. All he felt was fury. Rage. Unrivaled by any amount of compassion.
There was another voice. Macho. Southern. Familiar. “And do you remember what he wore to her funeral?”
He turned to see Evron standing with his hands in his pockets.
“He wore a Redskins tie and rolled up sleeves,” Sam answered.
“That’s right, he sure did. And then he used all that donation money to buy himself a shiny new love boat while your sister got stuck with a pathetic little plaque instead of a proper headstone.” He looked down at Jinx. “Go away, little man. This is a private conversation.”
“But—”
“Shoo, get out of here.”
The Keeper mumbled obscenities as he disappeared down the hall.
“You gonna be alright, Sammy?”
“I don’t know…I’m just…”
“You’re angry. I know. Always have been. That’s all you feel most of the time.” He opened up a bag and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. “You first wrote about me after she died. ‘Evron the Avenger,’ you called me. Used to make me go around and beat up bad guys. Had some good times, you and I. You were, what? Ten? Eleven?” He unscrewed the cap and handed it over.
“Something like that.” Sam took a swig. Medicine for the soul.
“The manifestation of all that anger you’ve got built up inside you. Had to let it out somehow, right?” He patted his bald head. “Could you at least have given me some hair?”
“I’ll never forgive him, Evron.” Sam stared into space. “How a man could let his daughter die for…for that…and show no remorse.”
“The universe works in mysterious ways.” Evron slapped him on the back. “Sometimes we can’t fight back.” Sam finished the whiskey. Evron smiled and took out another bottle. “Sometimes we’ve got to find another solution. When you can’t fight the pain, just drink till you can’t feel it no more.”
Bever
ly and Lauren Pierce stormed into the hospital room. Both looked terrified.
“Somethin’ wrong, Mrs. Pierce?” Delaney asked.
“You could say that.” Bev shook Logan until he woke up. “Hey baby, you’re going to go back to uncle Sam’s apartment with mommy, okay?”
“But I want to stay with uncle—”
“No buts!”
“Come on, kiddo.” Lauren scooped him up and stepped out of the room.
“What’s going on?”
Bev smacked her forehead. Stressed. “Sam’s father’s coming in from Chicago…Could be here any time between now and tomorrow. Son of a bitch wouldn’t tell me. You’d be smart to leave.”
Del took a look at Sam. His unconscious body undulated up and down to the tune of the respirators. “No…no I ain’t leavin’ him…”
There was a pause. Bev looked into her eyes for any signs of doubt. There were none to be found.
“I have good news and bad news,” said the doctor as he walked in with a clipboard. “The infection is going to get worse before it gets better but it looks like it should start to subside within a few hours. With any luck, there won’t be any major damage to many brain cells.”
“What kind of luck?”
“That’s for Sam to decide, Mrs. Pierce. We’ve done all we can and he’s the one who’s going to have to fight it now.”
Their shoes dangled nearly a thousand feet above the desert floor as Sam and Evron sat at the edge of an opening in the Lock Box Tower. The sun had set, casting an eerie blue over the void of rolling, sandy hills. They finished off another bottle of liquor and tossed it, where it landed with an inaudible thud far below.
Evron lit a cigarette. “You ever wonder how you got to where you are?”
“You got here because I get angry.”
“I ain’t talking about me.” He took a drag and passed it. “I’m talking about you. In general. Look at where you came from compared to where you are. You live in New York, greatest goddamn city on the planet. Live while you’re still alive, Sammy!”
Farewell from Paradise Page 12