by Kurt Newton
Pike stepped back, one hand reaching into his pocket to find Ethan's remote. "I'm afraid Wolf saw her as a threat. His natural instinct took over."
Ethan eyed the remote, and shook his head. "No. It was you." He was on the move, charging Pike before Pike could put him to sleep again.
Ethan slammed his shoulder into Pike's sternum, knocking the wind out of the doctor and sending him to the floor. The remote flew from Pike's hand and skittered away beneath the curtain. Pike didn't understand. Ethan should have been asleep in the Pit #3 hallway. Had Ethan's brainwaves somehow overrode his collar's signals?
Impossible! But here he was struggling with one of his subjects...a very strong subject at that. But it was nothing Pike couldn't handle, however.
Pike kneed Ethan in the side, and in a move learned from his time in the Army, he rolled with Ethan, gaining the dominant position. Pike used his weight to pin Ethan to the floor, one hand shielding Ethan's blows while the other rained some of his own. His fist connected with Ethan's face, splitting his lip. "I'll kill you...you fucker!" Ethan shouted, each word spattering Pike's face with blood. Pike slammed an elbow against Ethan's temple, opening a cut along his hairline. Blood pumped into Ethan's eyes. With his attacker momentarily blinded, Pike got to his feet and began kicking Ethan in the ribs. All Pike could think about was his stepfather and how much, when he was just a sniveling teen taking every abusive word and dirty look, he had wanted to do this to him as the man lay passed out on the floor. Pike was amazed at how good it felt, how liberating.
"Harrison..."
At first, Pike didn't hear his name called over the din of rage keening in his ears.
"Harrison!"
Pike stopped suddenly and turned, his rage melting. His heart ceased to beat. It was Anna. She was alive. She had stepped out of the mist of the sarcophagus and was walking toward him.
"Harrison..."
Her voice...so soothing.
"You've come back to me," Pike said, forgetting Ethan at his feet.
"Yes, Harrison, I have. Hold me, Harrison. It's been so long."
Pike held his arms out and embraced the only woman he ever loved. It was like a dream. Like a beautiful, heavenly dream.
But the dream ended abruptly with a piercing pain in his side. He stepped back, his vision made acute by a sudden realization. The woman before him wasn't Anna. She wasn't even the woman he had captured two years ago and had used as a substitute for Anna. This was the woman he believed was dead, killed by Wolf. She stared at him with a look of distain he had never before experienced. "Take that asshole," she said vehemently.
Pike looked down at where the pain emanated and saw the hilt of a kitchen knife. He fell to his knees.
The woman who had stabbed him skirted past to assist Ethan, who lay unconscious.
Pike collapsed, more from disbelief than from pain. He stared at the open sarcophagus, the ethereal mist escaping into the atmosphere along with his hopes and dreams.
45
"Ethan — are you okay?"
Lindsey was thankful to be out of that enclosure, thankful that this ordeal was finally over, but her main concern now was for Ethan's welfare. She sat down beside him and cradled his head, careful not to touch the wounds that were still bleeding.
"Ethan — talk to me."
Ethan opened his eyes, eyelashes lifting through the blood to look at her. "Lindsey?"
"Yes, it's me." She kissed him.
"You're alive."
She smiled.
"And you're naked."
She looked down at herself and laughed. "Yes, I am."
"I like it," he said. He coughed then, wincing.
"Can you walk?" said Lindsey. When he nodded, she helped him to his feet. She then tiptoed past Pike's body and reached into the open sarcophagus where she had stashed her car keys. She looked at the body of the dead girl. Of her clothes, the only things salvageable were her shoes. Though blood spattered, she grabbed them anyway. And there was one more thing she needed to get.
Pike lay on his side, eyes shut. Lindsey couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. She leaned over him and slowly slipped her hand into his lab coat pocket. It was empty. She gently rolled the doctor onto his back and reached into his other pocket, at last finding Wolf's remote. Pike's eyes flew open then. His hand lunged for her and nearly swiped the remote from her hand, a move that made her jump back with a shriek. She returned to Ethan's side as Pike struggled to sit up, but all he could do was flop back onto his side. His arm reached out toward them.
"Ethan, help me," Pike said. "Don't let her do this. I know where your brother is. I'll bring you to him. Just help me." Pike's eyes bulged. Blood painted his lips.
Lindsey saw the confused expression on Ethan's face. She grabbed Ethan by the chin. "Ethan, don't believe him. Whatever he's told you — it's all lies."
But Ethan continued to stare at the Pike. He broke free from Lindsey's grasp and staggered over to the injured man. "My brother's dead," said Ethan. He then kicked Pike in the face. Lindsey heard an awful crack as Pike gasped. When Ethan returned to her side she saw that Ethan had broken Pike's nose. "Let's go home," Ethan said, and together they moved through the curtains toward the exit.
Along the way, Lindsey spotted Ethan's remote on the floor near one of the tables. "You got that," she said. Ethan seemed to read her mind and crushed the remote beneath his heel. Pike's voice followed them to the exit.
"You'll never get away," he called. "They'll find you... They'll hunt you down like animals..."
Lindsey grabbed the extra lab coat hanging near the exit and slipped it on. Wolf sat, waiting patiently in the kitchen, his muzzle stained with dried blood. Lindsey stared at Ethan. Ethan looked down at the remote in her hand. He took a deep breath.
"Wolf, come," Ethan said. He led Wolf back into the Recreation Room. The dutiful canine sat at Ethan's feet. Ethan looked at Lindsey again before giving Wolf his final command. "Wolf, stay."
Lindsey and Ethan left the room. Before closing the door, Lindsey dialed the remote to the off position. The sound of Pike's muffled screams followed them as they made their way toward the bulkhead exit.
Knox entered the underground facility with caution. At the bottom of the cement stairs a hallway ran for some length. There was movement at the far end. He raised his rifle; then lowered it realizing one of the two people coming toward him was Lindsey Richmond. The other must be her boyfriend Ethan, he thought. Well, I'll be. When Lindsey saw him she stopped. The sudden cessation of movement caused Ethan to groan.
"I suppose you're going to try and stop us," Lindsey said. She didn't look like she had much fight left in her, and her boyfriend looked like he had just gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson.
"In the past, I might have said yes," said Knox, swinging his rifle back over his shoulder. "But today, you're free to pass go."
Lindsey hesitated.
Knox held out his hand. "C'mon, looks like your friend could use another pair of legs."
Tears sprung from Lindsey's eyes as she realized the nightmare was at last over.
Knox met them halfway and was about to take some of the load off Lindsey's shoulder when a voice called to them.
"Stahhhhhhhhp!"
The voice was hoarse, as if filtered through a sieve, and was imbued with a kind of barely-contained hysteria.
Pike stood at the other end of the hallway, perhaps thirty feet away, rifle resting on his hip aimed at the three of them. The man's arms and face were torn and bloodied. The knife Lindsey had put in his gut was now missing; in its place a glossy red bloom had blossomed on his lab coat.
Knox slowly moved in front of Lindsey and Ethan; he whispered to Lindsey as he took their spot. "When I say go, you go. Once outside, go straight. There's a trail at the edge of the woods. It will take you down the hillside."
Lindsey nodded.
"Man in the Hat," Pike called to Knox. "I said don't move." Pike appeared near collapse but still he advanced, dragging one leg and grimaci
ng with each step. His brow was slick with sweat, but the rifle barrel held its mark. "You don't know what these two have done to me. They killed my Anna. My Wolf. Though they forced me to do that myself. With the same knife that bitch tried to kill me with." Pike shuffled closer. He was now within fifteen feet. "But I'm willing to let bygones be bygones." Pike's rifle went off, hitting Knox in the thigh and dropping him to his knee.
"Go!" Knox shouted, swinging his own rifle around and firing at Pike. The bullet hit the doctor in the shoulder just as he fired again, causing his aim to jerk to the side. The bullet ricocheted off cement.
From one knee, Knox ejected the spent cartridge and pumped another round into the chamber. As he took aim on Pike's chest, Pike's rifle fired again. Knox was thrown onto his back.
For what seemed like an eternity, Knox stared at the caged light bulb in the ceiling overhead. An emergency broadcast tone hummed in his ears. He strained to look toward the exit and saw Lindsey and Ethan's legs as they scrambled up the bulkhead stairway into the night. Knox then lifted his head. He searched for the rifle but it had been thrown to the side, out of reach. He tried to sit up but couldn't. The bullet had struck him the chest. He felt for the wound and realized it was just above his heart. Pike loomed over him.
"I'd stop right there," said Knox, producing his .38 and pointing it at Pike.
Pike halted. He leaned against the wall no more than three feet away, his rifle still aimed at Knox. Though the man's body was obviously laboring, the look in Pike's eye was as steely as a wolf's. "I believe we're at an impasse."
Knox kind of figured it would come down to this. He had hoped doing the right thing would somehow allow him the freedom to live free again. But he guessed some debts were just too great to wipe clean. Knox laughed.
"Care to share?" said Pike.
"I'm just wondering which one of us will pass out first," said Knox.
Pike studied him. "I believe your injuries are much more life-threatening. I'm a doctor. Let me help you."
Knox laughed some more. He coughed and tasted blood at the back of his throat. "You're one sick mother fucker. You know that don't you."
Pike grunted. "Who are you anyway?"
Good question. Knox considered it for a moment. Who am I? And then it came to him. I'm a father... I'm a husband... and once upon a time I was a damn good cop. But he didn't share any of this with Pike. He felt the world slow. The hum in his ears lowered in tone. He felt a curious rumble in the floor and thought it was his own body trembling. But the light fixture overhead also shook. The rumbling increased.
He noticed Pike staring, admiring the sound as if it were the voice of God. The man then looked down. He let the rifle drop to the floor. Eyes wide, he bent into a crouch and stretched out his hand. "Here kitty kitty..." He smiled as he stood upright again; petting something in his arms...only nothing was there. At last, he glanced at Knox and said, "Say goodbye to Mr. Man in the Hat." The doctor then closed his eyes and an almost serene expression washed over his face.
The rumble now shook the entire building. Like cannon fire, there came two explosions in quick succession, and Knox conjured Marlene's face in his thoughts before the roar in the sky entered the underground facility with a white-hot vengeance.
As Lindsey and Ethan hurried away down the hillside, the sky erupted. At first it felt like thunder but the noise grew in intensity. What sounded like a jet roared in overhead and there came two huge explosions. Lindsey and Ethan dove for cover as rock and debris rained down all around them. When they got to their feet again, Lindsey recalled the vision she had had on the night of July 4th. She stared at Ethan. Behind him the entire top of Backbone Ridge was lit up in flames.
46
Rural Road #2 was nearly impassable. An abandoned pickup truck blocked the way back, so Lindsey had to turn around and follow the rain-muddied dirt road the other way until it reached pavement. After winding along narrow secondaries with names neither of them recognized, Lindsey and Ethan found themselves on Route 97 heading north into Massachusetts. After reversing direction, Lindsey took Ethan's advice and drove to the Custom Furniture Mill in Eastford to remove the collar still clasped around Ethan's neck.
On the way there, they noticed not a single street lamp or house light was on. A quick scan of the radio stations supplied breaking news that most of northeast Connecticut was without power. They pulled into the Furniture Mill's gravel parking lot. Lindsey reached under her seat and pulled out an emergency roadside kit. Inside was flashlight.
"You sure you're okay?" said Lindsey, helping Ethan out of the Rover.
"I just need to get this off me," he said.
According to Ethan, the owner of the Mill had a habit of forgetting his keys, and Ethan knew where he hid a spare. At the front door, a short handrail extended to a 4x4 end post with a decorative tiered cap. Railing, post and cap — as well as the oaken front door — showcased the Mill's unique craftsmanship. Lindsey held the flashlight as Ethan ran his fingers under the lip of the cap. The spring-loaded top tier slid to the side revealing a small compartment. Inside was the key.
Once inside, Ethan headed for the machine shop, the flashlight lighting their way. The Mill's machinist, Lauran, worked mostly with brass and copper. Lauran had an assortment of tin snips and shears on his table, but he also had what Ethan liked to call "the enforcer". "The Enforcer" was a twelve-inch bolt cutter that could snap a quarter-inch-thick metal dowel in two. Ethan sat on a stool. He handed Lindsey the cutters and held the flashlight for her to see. After slipping a piece of cardboard underneath the collar, he turned to her and said, "Just do it."
Lindsey cut first on one side and then on the other. The collar, which had controlled Ethan's behavior for the past eleven days, came off rather easily. Ethan stared at the two half-moon pieces in his hand, before dumping them into the waste bin.
"I should have never gone on the stupid hike," he said.
The Mill was as quiet as an empty church. In the small island of light, surrounded by the pervasive darkness of the power outage, it was as they were the only two people on Earth.
Lindsey put the cutters aside and hugged him. She kissed the swell near his cut forehead. She kissed his nose, which was also swollen. She applied tender kisses to both upper and lower lip where the skin had been split and was now crusted over with blood. He attempted to kiss her back but he winced with pain. He coughed then and held his side. When he tried to kiss her again, he coughed again, this time holding his hand to his mouth. His hand came away stained with something dark. Blood.
At first Lindsey thought his lip had opened back up again, but the splits were still sealed. "Lift up your shirt," she said.
"I'm okay..."
She grabbed the flashlight and lifted his shirt where he was holding his side. The flashlight revealed a football-sized purplish bruise on his ribs. She barely touched it and he cried out. "Christ, Ethan. You need to get to a hospital."
Ethan was about to protest, but as he stood he nearly fell backwards. Lindsey caught him in time and helped him back outside to the car, grabbing a pair of Ethan's work overalls along the way to wear.
As they rushed toward Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam, Ethan fell in and out of consciousness. At one point, he turned to Lindsey and said, "What are we going to tell them?"
Lindsey didn't hesitate. "We're going to tell them the truth," she said.
But the truth wasn't always what people wanted to hear. The truth could appear simple on the surface, something bright and shiny and pure. But sometimes that truth was just the tip of a pyramid of truths that once looked into revealed only darkness, deception and lies underneath.
When Ethan Morales showed up in the Day Kimball Emergency Room, it wasn't long before a nurse with a memory for local news recognized the face and the name, and made a call to Channel 3 in Hartford.
Lindsey made two calls of her own. She called Ethan's mother as soon as they reached the hospital. She then called her own mother to let her know where she was. B
oth mothers arrived at the same time. While Mrs. Morales went in to see her son, Mrs. Richmond stood with Lindsey in the waiting room. Before saying a single word Lindsey's mother hugged her. There were tears in her mother's eyes.
"Mom, I'm okay."
"I know that, Sweety. I'm just happy to see you're alive."
"I'm happy, too." Lindsey wasn't used to receiving such affection from her mother. Maybe she should run off and almost get herself killed more often, she thought. They sat in the far corner of the waiting room, away from the television set and everyone else.
"So tell me what happened?" her mother said. "And why are you wearing those dirty overalls?"
Lindsey smiled. "It's a long story, Mom."
Her mother listened as Lindsey told her story. Her mother nodded in the all the right places. She even gasped with concern once or twice. And when Lindsey was finished her mother said this: "As your mother, and someone who is familiar with the inner workings of the law," her voice dropped to a whisper, "I would advise you to keep the part about being inside the facility to yourself. After all, honey, you stabbed a man. Nobody need know what happened inside that awful place. If what you say is true, there will be no evidence to support your claim, and you will simply appear like one of those crazy conspiracy theorists. You don't want people looking at you strangely do you? Whatever was going on up there is over now. Over and done. All you need to worry about now is you."
"And Ethan," said Lindsey.
"Of course, Ethan. Though after all that time in the wilderness, whatever he says will be greeted as just the mad ravings of a man exposed to the elements for too long."
Lindsey was too stunned and too tired to argue. She knew her mother well. She knew how important it was to her mother that nothing tarnished the Richmond name. "What about Jared? Ranger Rick?"
"I don't know, sweetheart. That is none of your concern now."