"Praying?" Lori said.
"Yes ma'am," Stuart said. "Prayin'."
"You weren't able to make out any drawings at that time, were you?"
"Oh yeah," Stuart said. "I saw those like a week after Philadelphia went to hell." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania then. That's where Stuart was broadcasting from.
"Have you ventured outside at all since everything happened?" Martin asked.
"Yes, once or twice," Stuart said. "My neighbor keeps a supply of guns. Well, he used to. I've got them now. I went out to get more food and stuff, and that's when I saw those drawings. I didn't think much of them at first, but then..."
"Then you saw it," Wesley confirmed.
Stuart sighed. "Yeah. It was the damnedest thing. Those...things...were praying, raising their hands to the sky like they were at a tent revival, and I heard this noise and looked up and there it was."
I felt a chill overtake me. "And it looked like the thing in the drawing?"
"It did, and when I saw it I about wet myself."
The five of us looked at each other, silent in our own thoughts.
"So it was flying above the primitives?" Wesley asked. "The ones who were...praying?"
"Yeah. It was like they were worshipping it."
I could see it all too clearly. Scattered bands of primitives making those crude drawings, gathering together in worship and then being visited by their strange god as it made its presence known to them.
"What happened then?" Martin asked.
"I watched them for ten minutes or so," Stuart continued. "And that thing...it just kinda hovered about twenty, maybe thirty feet over them. Then it took off and flew away, heading north. It was when it flew away that it freaked me out. At first I thought I'd lost my mind, that I was seeing things. But when it actually turned and flapped its wings...shit, you could hear them. You could like...feel the vibration in the air."
What Stuart felt was probably akin to what it felt like to stand near a 747 when it took off from a runway. Especially if it was as big as he made it out to be.
"What happened after it flew away?" Wesley asked.
"Those things just kind of hollered...or gave these yells that sounded like they were happy. Kinda like, 'yaaay!' Then they dispersed and when they did I saw one was lying on the ground. I got a closer look at him through the telescope and saw he was dead."
"Murdered?" Wesley asked.
"Yeah, I think so. I saw a lot of blood. Couldn't tell how he died, though."
"Was that drawing anywhere nearby?"
"Yeah it was. On the wall where they were gathered."
"And you said this thing possessed them?" This came from Tracy.
"About two hours later I was still at my telescope looking for more of them and I saw them come running up the street. They were like...herding this other one...he was sort of in the middle of this group of them, and the others were herding him along. And they got to the place where they were earlier and sort of lifted him to the top of the wall. I focused in and...ah, shit man, I don't know how else to describe it but...this one just seemed...different than the others. Like...you know how they are...they're like us only they act like they're fucking cavemen, right? Like they're animals. Right?"
We all nodded and murmured agreement at this.
"Well this one wasn't like that. It was like it had gained some...I don't know...some level of intelligence back. It had a more prominent gait and demeanor, and when I looked at it I saw...its face...its face was...different."
"How do you mean?"
"It was like...there was a subtle change in its facial structure. I don't know how else to describe it. It was almost like it was morphed a little bit. It probably wasn't obvious if you hadn't seen these things, but I've been living here with them now for a month, okay? I've kinda gotten to recognize their behavior pattern and the way they look. And basically they look like us, only they're wild. You know? This one seemed to have regained its civilized nature back but only gradually. Again, it's hard to describe."
"Did you see it again?"
"Yes, and that's what I'm coming to. After they left, that other one came back and ate the dead one that was lying there. I was watching it and—"
"You watched one of those things eat somebody?" Lori asked, slightly disgusted.
"It's not the first time I've seen one of them eating their own kind," Stuart said. "Or one of us for that matter. And besides, I was watching it to get a better look at it because this time it looked different again. This time it had horns!"
"What?" From myself, Lori, and Martin.
"Yeah, it had horns. Or the beginning of horns. It was also hunched over...like its body shape was changing as well."
"Have you seen it since then?"
"Only twice. And both times it's gone through additional transformations." Stuart's voice grew low. Sibilant. "It's like...it's changing into a mini-me version of that thing. It doesn't have wings or anything, but it's definitely different...way more so now than it was when I first saw it. And get this..."
We all grew silent as Stuart continued, and as he related this next batch of information I could feel the hairs standing along the nape of my neck. "The last time I saw it, the thing was coming. I call it the God of the New World, 'cause that's what I think it is. I could see it flying from the north, heading my way, and I ducked down to avoid being seen, but I still had the telescope out and I was watching it. The thing wasn't paying attention to me. It was just...flying around, going back and forth. It got about five, maybe six blocks from me and when I saw that its back was to me I took a chance and got a wide view of the area it was flying over. And...that other thing...that...primitive, the one that was changing, it was running directly below the thing and it was...making these weird gestures with its face and arms. I didn't know what it was doing at first. It was just going back and forth, across the street and back, over and over again, and I looked back up at the God of the New World and saw the connection. Every time the God of the New World changed course, that primitive changed right along with it. More I watched, the more I saw that the primitive was...it was linked to the God of the New World somehow. Making the same movements with its face, its arms, moving its head, the way it flew back and forth...the primitive was making the same movements and running back and forth in the same spot. As if it was being pulled—"
"Like it was directing it," I said. "Or...moving it around like a marionette pulls a puppet's strings."
"Yeah, exactly!" Stuart said.
"Have you seen this kind of behavior since then?" Wesley asked.
Stuart wrapped up his summation quickly. Five days after he witnessed that strange ritual/possession he caught a glimpse of another, this time coming from the opposite direction. "By then I had commandeered the entire top floor of my building," he said. "I just busted down the doors of the other apartments. They emptied out the day the shit hit the fan. Gives me a better view, and I barricaded the door to the staircase. Of course the elevators don't work here anymore and I'm twenty flights up, so those things will have to be really determined to get me if they want to. Anyway, I saw a similar ritual on the north side five days later. This time the God of the New World was controlling three of them. I think one of those was the first one I saw. It seemed...like it had changed more. It...didn't look human anymore."
Once again, I felt my veins freeze. I traded a glance with Wesley, then with Tracy. The look on Tracy's face was one of pure terror.
"So that's what I mean by this thing possesses them. It seems to take them over, turn them into miniature versions of itself," Stuart explained.
There was nothing else to discuss. Nothing else to debate, no further clarification needed. We had no need to disbelieve Stuart. He was a rarity in this new world. An un-primitive human being.
"I'm going to guess that it's too dangerous for you to get out of the city," Wesley said. Wesley looked exhausted. "Is that right, Stuart?"
"Yeah, I'd say so," Stuart said. "Some days it seems like I'm
the only one here. I don't even see any primitives. I can sometimes go three, four days without seeing anybody. Then suddenly I've got a clan of them down on First Street running around like goddamn wild monkeys."
"Does that thing—that God of the New World, as you call it—show up when the primitives are nearby?" Martin asked.
"Not all the time," Stuart admitted. "But I don't want to take that chance. I just assume it's around."
Martin made a throat slashing gesture with his hand, signaling to Wesley to cut the communication off with Stuart. Wesley nodded and turned to the console. "Listen, Stuart, I need to regroup with my people. Can I get you on this frequency again tomorrow afternoon?"
"Yeah, I'll be here. WB3SDS."
"Okay. Four o'clock Eastern time."
"Four o'clock it is.
"Take care of yourself, Stuart," Wesley said.
"You too, Wesley. And the rest of you. Sorry, I don't remember all of your names. I should...you guys are the only people I've heard from since...this all started." Stuart's voice broke slightly.
"It's okay, buddy," Wesley said, his tone soft. "We'll talk to you later."
"Okay. Over and out."
Wesley released the button on the mike and leaned back from the console. The five of us regarded each other in that darkened radio room. I could read it in their faces, see it in everyone's eyes.
"This is bad," Martin said.
Twelve
Despite the lateness of the hour, we weren't tired. I think we were all too disturbed by what we'd just heard to try to go back to sleep. I know Tracy was very bothered by what Stuart had to say. I could read it on her face. She prepared herself a glass of wine at the bar while Martin drew whiskey into glasses for himself and Wesley. Lori was sitting outside on the deck, looking out at the vast night. Eventually we made our way outside and grouped around the table that the former owner had set outside to serve as a gathering area for guests. The spot had become our unofficial meeting place for the summer.
"So what does this mean for us?" Lori asked. She was a dark silhouette in the night. Unlike other evenings when we brought candles out to illuminate the night, we sat in the dark. The evening was mild, in the low seventies, and I could see fireflies twinkling in the field below us.
"It means we made the right decision in holing up here," Martin said.
"If Stuart's in Philadelphia and this thing is heading west, will it swing by this way?" Tracy asked.
"And is it an actual real being?" I mused.
"Of course it's real," Lori said. "What kind of dumb ass question is that?"
"We never saw this thing," I said. I was more or less thinking out loud. Trying to make sense of what I'd just heard, trying to apply it with what limited knowledge I had of primitive belief systems. "We saw the drawings, and I think we can all agree that the drawings represent a collective understanding...maybe some kind of psychic link the primitives have with this thing. God of the New World seems to be an apt name, but I wonder if it's accurate? God of the Old World may be a more accurate description."
"God don't look like that, and you know it!" Lori said.
I raised my hand up to stop the protest. "Hear me out for a minute. We agree that this virus Wesley told us about reverted everybody to his or her primitive state, that it altered our DNA and woke up the Neanderthal strain. Correct?"
I sensed nods all around. Martin murmured quietly. "Okay."
"What do we know about the spiritual beliefs of primitive man?" I resumed. "Anybody?"
Now I sensed confusion. Bafflement. Apparently my new clan was just as clueless about the spiritual beliefs of primitive man as I was.
"Just...what I've seen on the History Channel," Wesley said, making a noble try. "We know they had rituals over their dead...that they had burial rituals and stuff."
"Yeah," I said, nodding. "And James said that some primitive cultures practiced human sacrifice. We know various primitive cultures had different gods. God of sun, water, earth, that kind of stuff."
"I'm sure most of that is pure speculation," Tracy said.
"Sure," I agreed. "Speculation based on the scant archeological record. I admit, I don't know much about Neanderthals, just that they were a lower form of man, a distant relative, if you will."
"I thought there was a missing link between Neanderthal and modern Homo sapiens?" Tracy asked.
I shrugged. "It's possible. I remember something from the same History Channel episode Wesley saw. Something about ancient superstitious beliefs of primitive man. Cave drawings, ancient artifacts found that suggest religious belief. Evidence of primitive burial rituals which would suggest some kind of belief in not only an after-life but a god of some sort."
"But nobody knows what kind of god," Martin said.
"That's what I'm not sure of," I said. "But here's the thing." I leaned over the table. I could sense the others drawing close to me in order to listen to what I had to say. I was very aware of Mother Nature around me; the breeze rustling the branches and leaves of the trees, the chirping of the crickets, the flickering lights of the fireflies dancing in the field below. I was trying to imagine how things might have been twenty thousand years ago or more. How the destructive winds of a hurricane might appear to primitive man who had no concept of the scientific basis of such weather patterns; that would be the wind god, of course. And if a hunting expedition proved to bear good fruit, it wasn't the combined skill or power of the hunter-gatherers that took the wooly mammoth down...it was the god of earth who helped things along, who made it possible for half a dozen men armed only with crude spears to bring down an enormous animal that could easily crush and maim with one stomp of a foot. Lightning setting trees on fire? That was the god of fire, of course. "Despite all the evidence we have of primitive man, we don't really know what they thought or believed in. There's no written record. We can only speculate based on the archeological record and by observing some of our more primitive cousins—chimpanzees, gorillas and the like."
"So you believe in evolution?" Lori asked.
"Yeah, I do," I said. I had no desire to get into a religious debate with Lori who, judging by some past comments, appeared to be a devout Christian. I wasn't sure if she was the type who swallowed the creation story as related in Genesis lock, stock and barrel—and I knew far more Christians who saw that story as pure allegory—but if that was the case, I didn't want to get into a theological argument with her. "But that's beside the point. Hear me out for a minute, okay?"
I sensed and saw nods around me. Tracy reached under the table and patted my leg. I smiled at her.
"We know Neanderthals were a somewhat more primitive distant cousin of us," I began. "They formed small communities. They learned how to make and harness fire, they made small tools, and they organized into warring sects. And they had some kind of primitive spiritual belief system as I mentioned earlier. There's also evidence they crossed paths and possibly crossbred with Homo sapiens, as...well, as we now have evidence of that due to what happened. The point is, prior to Homo sapiens appearing in the world, how much do we know about Neanderthal's belief systems? Not much, I would think. In fact, I don't think Neanderthals doodled on the walls of caves like our Homo Sapiens ancestors. I think what we're seeing with these drawings the primitives are doing is a result of our own hidden knowledge of communication and art. Anyway..." I paused, trying to collect my thoughts in order to articulate what I was trying to say. "Suppose Neanderthals had a belief system...that they worshipped a god that became so real to them...so powerful in their collective psyche that this...god...or whatever...it became real to them. It became powerful to them. They did all the things we're seeing and hearing about now...made sacrifice to it, performed rituals to appease it and then...over time, as Homo sapiens appeared and Neanderthals began dying out, belief in the god died and in turn..." I looked out in the darkness at my clan and I think they all understood what I was getting at. I saw Martin nod in acknowledgement next to me.
"You're saying sup
pose the god itself died off as Neanderthals did and now that they're back, it's back," Martin said.
"Bingo," I said.
"Jesus," Wesley said. I could sense him lean back in his chair. I could also sense the others coming to grips with what I had just hypothesized.
"So it's come back," Tracy said. Her hand found mine beneath the table and our fingers intertwined, drawing strength. "The Neanderthal strain has been awakened, and belief in the god has come back."
"And it's actually brought it back," Martin said. It sounded like Martin was having a hard time processing this.
"I think I'm having a hard time coming to grips with this myself," Lori said. She directed her next question to me. "How can it be physically back, though? That would suggest that Christians who believed in God could actually bring Him into the flesh for real."
"Yeah, but I think we have far more primitives in the world now than we've ever had Christians," I said. "Think of all that subconscious will of belief working at once. More than ninety percent of the human population, probably. All sharing that spiritual link."
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