She didn’t remember her hallucinations of the beast. Or her confession. Or anything I said.
Good.
I could get used to things going my way for a change.
Chapter 22
The Hard Place
I headed down the dirt path toward the hidden bunker. Maya stumbled and bungled her way beside me, spitting toxic bile to the ground.
After getting possessed by a dark entity and swallowing a poisonous plant, Maya’s journey was a tad more miserable than she would have liked.
She leaned over and picked tiny prickers from her mouth.
I turned to her. “Don’t stop. We can’t slow down—”
“What is in my mouth, man?” she asked, picking another pricker from her tongue.
“The stingers,” I said. “From the plant that saved your life.”
“Is that why my mouth tastes like ass?”
“You must have a natural tolerance to the plant. You’re not even getting a welt.”
“Shit, man. If this is the cure, I don’t want to remember the disease.”
“You really don’t,” I said. “We’ll have to keep an eye on your symptoms.”
“You mean it’s not over?”
“You might develop a rash in a couple of days. Or your mouth and throat may swell and close up. But when the time comes, I’ll have Forever Blood to counteract it.”
“This is Hell,” she said.
“Ignore it. Focus on the road ahead.”
“It’s kinda hard to ignore, man.” With a heavy groan, saliva dripped from her mouth. “It’s all over my tongue. My throat. And my lips. It’s like my whole face was dipped in Hell juice.”
“What’s wrong?” I said with a grin. “I thought this was a vacation. Are we making memories yet?”
She glared at me with a murderous gaze. “Oh. Shut. Up.”
“Trust me, the worst part is over.” I peered down at her. “Suck it up. We need to keep moving. We have to get August. I left him in the bunker alone.”
I still didn’t know where Munsher and his crew had gone to. He may have taken his small army to confront Redmann. I didn’t have to think too hard to realize that Redmann was this Herald The Presence was referring to.
We rounded a bend along the road. This section of the make-shift road was painted with weeds, making it more of a two-track path. More trail, less road.
“We have to find out Redmann’s plan,” I said. “I need to know what he’s up to.”
“I can ask my friend, Jada. She may know.”
“The girl from the tent? She’s not your friend, Maya. She’s Forever. You can’t trust Forever People. They’re evil sociopaths.”
“Not Jada. She says she’s loyal to a fault.”
“Loyal people make me nervous,” I said. “Germany was loyal to Hitler and look how that turned out.”
“She’s not a Nazi.”
“If you’re going to be loyal, be loyal to principle. People change. Principles don’t.”
“Man, whatever,” she said. “At least she doesn’t leave her friends tied to a tree.”
Okay. I probably deserved that.
“No,” I said. “But given the childish outburst you were having at the time, she would just drain your soul to shut you up instead.”
“She wouldn’t do that…”
“What’s her last name?”
“Ummm… it’s James, I think. Jada James. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Her last name is a first name. That’s bad news.”
“Come again?”
“Davis or Johnson is fine. But James or Lee is not. When people have two first names, it never ends well.”
“Are you kidding me right now? You’re judging her on her last name?”
“Never trust a person with two first names,” I said. “They’re sketchy. Most of them are shifty sons of bitches. Killers. Swindlers. And thieves. She has one strike for being Forever. Her last name is her second.”
“You are insane, dude,” she said. “Is this another one of your hunting rules?”
“No, just gut instinct formed by years of experience.”
“Your gut is seriously out of whack.”
“It’s always on point,” I said. “Trouble comes when I ignore it.”
“But you have two first names too. Ivy is a girl’s first name.”
I stopped walking and stared her in the eye. “Knowing what I am capable of, if you just met me, would you trust me?”
“Well, no…” She thought for a moment and threw her hands to the air. “Ugh, fine. You made your point.”
I smiled. “I told you.” I turned and continued down the trail.
A flock of yellow canaries chirped in a tree off to the right. A woodpecker tapped away on a tree trunk to my left. A breeze caressed my face. In this alternate world, the air was always the same temperature. About seventy-five degrees. It hardly fluctuated. It was unnerving. And unnatural.
Maya had a hard time keeping up with my pace. I didn’t slow down. She ran to catch up.
She tried catching her breath. “You probably got teased in school for having a girl’s last name, didn’t you?”
“Up until the fifth grade.”
“Did they finally just stop?”
“They sure did,” I said, kicking a stick into the woods. “After I obliterated a boy’s front teeth with a brick.”
“Whoa…”
“They called me ‘Crazy Ivy’ behind closed doors. Never to my face though. I wonder why.”
“What did your parents do when they found out?”
“My mother was furious.”
“Did your dad beat your ass?”
“For once in my life, he actually didn’t.”
“What did he do?”
“He patted me on the back and gave me a beer,” I said with a smirk. “One of the only good memories of him I have.”
She scoffed. “You didn’t have a lot friends growing up, did you?”
“Friends get you killed.”
“You’re just too cynical,” she said. “Jada is a loyal friend.”
“I’ve had friends for twenty years who have stabbed me in the back. Literally. I know what I’m talking about.”
“But you don’t know Jada.”
“Neither do you.”
“Whatever, man. You’ll see.”
“Find out what information you can from her,” I said, my gaze darting around the woods. “Maybe she knows where Zac is. Munsher doesn’t have him. If Zac is alive, maybe Redmann has him locked away somewhere.”
“Why would they bring him here? Of all places? You don’t think he’s—” She gestured like an alien was popping out of her chest.
“I don’t think he was made into a Primitive, no. Blackwell wouldn’t bring him here for that. Zac is much too gifted to be used as cannon fodder.”
I needed Maya to have hope that she was going to get through this. Her amnesia was the result of either the exorcism or sheer trauma. Regardless, she needed to believe Zac was alive. Even if I thought otherwise.
Besides, she’d find out soon enough about Augie’s nuclear bomb countdown. I didn’t want her to throw another conniption fit.
We took a left into the woods towards the latch. Maya followed me down the ladder.
“August,” I said, reaching the bottom. I headed toward the bomb, but something was remarkably absent.
Augie was gone.
Maya glanced around the room. “Where’s Augie? I thought you left him here?”
“I did.” I reached for my Beretta before realizing it wasn’t there. I felt naked. I normally had thirty pounds of weaponry on me. Now I was demoted to a butterfly knife and a prayer.
I rounded the corner to the truck. “August, where are you?” There was an ASL soldier laid out on the floor next to the dismantled bomb. He was dead.
“Oh, shit,” Maya said. “What happened?”
“Stay close.”
Three more bodies were in a pil
e in the corner. Blood across the floor. It looked like the mercenaries ran into August McKenzie.
I started toward the truck.
When I reached it, Munsher was leaning against the hood. Holding a Glock. And whistling.
“I’ve been on this Island for 5 years,” he said. “And I ain’t never seen so many bombs.”
“Where’s August?”
“How the hell did you survive the Primitives? You’re one tough son of a bitch. I’m guessing there’s no creature inside either of you right now.”
“What did you do with August?”
“Maybe my guys took him back to our bunker to beat the shit out of him. Or maybe I locked his annoying little prick in the vault with 100 A-bomb’s.”
I glanced at the vault. It was closed. “August was trying to disarm the bomb, you idiot.”
“Why the hell would I want to disarm it?” he asked. “Why should I try to take over Redmann’s operation with a few Primitives when I can just blow the whole Island to shit? The way I see it, there’s barely two hours left on that bomb. That’s about the time twilight hits. Me and my team will be out of here. You, Redmann, and his whole cult crap of bullshit are going to be history.”
“We’re on the same team, Munsher,” I said. “We both want to stop Redmann. Put down the gun.”
“Seriously, how did you get out of the pit? Gary said you dove in after little Miss Princess here. You gotta tell me or it’s gonna bug the shit out of me.”
“Why don’t we work together to bring down Buddy Redmann?” I asked.
“There can only be one alpha dog in the group,” he said, waving his Glock around. “And you ain’t him.”
Maya had so much pent up energy, her foot repeatedly tapped the floor. She was about to lunge at him, but I took her arm.
“Maya, no,” he said.
“He had me thrown in the pit,” she said with a growl. “He’s a douchebag prick and I’m gonna stick that gun where the sun don’t shine.”
Munsher smiled wide. He was all teeth. “There’s that spark I love so much,” he said. “You would’ve made a great Primitive.”
Maya’s outrage allowed me to shorten the distance to Munsher. I held her back, letting her get closer and closer until we were only two yards away from the enemy.
Maya spat a huge loogie at him. “You deserve death row, pig.”
The phlegm slid down Munsher’s cheek. He wiped it off with his sleeve and raised his Glock at her. That closed the gap between me and the gun even more.
His voiced cracked. “And you deserve a bullet, you little bitch.”
Before he could blink, I made my move. When I was done, Munsher was on his knees with a bloody nose and the Glock was in my hands.
“Watch the nose,” he said, trying to stop the blood gushing from his nostrils. “Dammit. This is never gonna heal.”
I banged the barrel against his skull. “When you were leaning against the Jeep, I heard metal scrape the hood. Can I assume that’s my Beretta stashed in your back?”
“Maybe—”
I pressed the Glock to his forehead. “Hand it over. Slowly.” He reached behind and fetched my Beretta. Now I had my Beretta, a Glock, and my butterfly knife. I didn’t feel completely naked anymore. As if I had on some tighty whiteys and a pair of old sneakers. That may not cast the best visual, but it did wonders for my peace of mind. At least I felt at home.
Munsher sneered. “My men will be here any second now,” he said. “You’re both dead meat.”
As he finished his sentence, five armed ASL soldiers came around the corner. They immediately opened fire. I pushed the Glock in Maya’s hand as we dived behind the engine block.
One of Munsher’s men tossed him an M16.
He laid waste to the side of the jeep. “I could have used a man like you on my team,” he said. “Now you’re going to die down here with no air.”
“Air is overrated,” I said.
“Enjoy Ground Zero, pindick.”
RATTA-TAT-TAT-TAT!
He sprayed bullets into the wall above our heads. When I fired, they were gone. I raced around the corner, but Munsher was already at the top of the ladder.
As I climbed the ladder, Munsher looked down at me, gave a two-finger salute, and closed the hatch. I grabbed the wheel and I turned it until it hit something. It wouldn’t budge an inch. He must’ve jammed it with the M16.
We were trapped.
We had a nuclear bomb with two hours left on the timer that couldn’t be disarmed by anyone other than Augie with his ability to channel Tesla.
And he was locked in the damn vault.
Chapter 23
Augie the Magnificent
I tried to open the vault, but it was definitely locked. It weighed half a ton, I wasn’t sure how Munsher got it closed. Maybe when you have five henchmen, many hands made light work of it. I took the Beretta and banged it against the vault. Augie banged back the Star Wars theme.
Yeah, Augie was in there alright.
I suppose I should be counting my blessings. They could have killed him. Instead, Munsher decided to let him die a slow and agonizing death as he ran out of air or blew up at Ground Zero of a nuclear bomb. At least it was nice to have options.
Maya stared at the bomb parts scattered along the floor. “Tell me again how he accidentally started the timer? That ticker is making me all kinds of queasy.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “At this range, we won’t feel a thing.”
“That’s not very comforting.”
“Sundown is in a couple hours. If we get August out of here, there’s a chance we could make it past the veil in time.”
“It’s going to take us a few hours just to get him out,” she said. She leaned into the vault door. “It was nice knowing you, Augie. Remember, duck and cover.”
“We’re not leaving him in the vault.
“I figured you’d leave him in a heartbeat,” she said.
I grumbled. “I can’t,” I said with the hint of a grin. “He has my pocket watch. It’s priceless.” I surveyed the vault door for any bolts or screws that I could remove. But there was nothing.
When I turned around, Augie was standing next to the bomb behind Maya. His eyes were glued to it.
“August,” I said. “How did you get out?” He didn’t say a word.
“Augie, you scared me shitless,” Maya said, reaching toward him. I grabbed her arm. She peered back at me. “What’s wrong?”
Augie stood in the corner, analyzing the bomb. A dusty beam of light cascaded through the air. But the brightness didn’t shine on him—
It shined through him.
“That is not August,” I said.
“What do you mean it’s not-” She was interrupted by her own realization that pieces of his body were missing as the light shined through. “Oh, God.”
“Just you, me, and a bomb,” the Augie mimic said, “Now we can have all kinds of fun.”
“Why are you here?” I asked.
The thing that looked like Augie turned to me and smiled. His grin was a little too wide, his eyes a little too devious.
“I can save your person in the vault if you want,” he said. “I can open that door as easily as I pull memories from your mind.”
“This is not the time, monster,” I said, turning to Maya. “It’s The Presence. It can take the shape of anyone from your memories. Do not, for one second, believe the illusion is real, or you will wake up with a monster in your belly. Again.”
The Augie-creature smiled. “I would never do such a thing to you,” he said. “Besides, she’s tainted.”
I scowled. “Tainted?”
“There’s an energy all over her and through her.” He rubbed his arms and shivered. “Ick. Gross. It’s like, all holy and shit.”
“The exorcism,” I said. “You don’t like the energy of God. The light of Christ was in my prayer. It offends you. Just like any common demon.”
The Augie-thing smirked. His eyes smiled thinly. “It
leaves a bad taste in my mouth is all. It doesn’t allow for fertile ground, if you know what I’m saying.” He rubbed his neck.
I sneered. “In the name of Christ, begone—”
“Are you expecting me to burst into flame?” he asked, shaking his head. “Sorry, not a demon. That little exorcism may have worked back there, but only because my energy and this Jesus fellow don’t mix too well. He’s kind of a square. He’s not one of mine.” He reached out his arms. “But hey, now that I know you’re a survivor, I want to help you. We’re buds now, right?”
“If you want to help me,” I said, “then open this vault.”
The Augie mimic put his hands behind his back and moved his gaze to the top of the door. “I could.” He slid closer to me. “Or I can watch you disintegrate as the nuclear bomb lays waste to your flesh and melts every atom in existence.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’ll die with us.”
“Only the part of me that’s here,” he said. “But what you’ve experienced of me so far is merely the tip of an iceberg. There is so much more to me, Solomon. You have witnessed only a single hair on my head.” He held up his pinky finger. “A tip of the fingernail on my magnificent body.”
“Which will all perish in the explosion,” I said. “You’ll be nothing but dust.”
“You wouldn’t be killing me, you’d just be giving me a manicure. Exfoliating my dead cells. A light trim to the bangs. I will still exist. As I always have and always will. I am the Omega and the Alpha, the beginning and the end, the all and the nothing—”
“You are not God.”
“Are you sure? How do you know? Maybe I am. Maybe there are other pockets where I exist. I am everywhere, am I not?”
The Augie mimic was right. If it was that vast an entity, the bomb wouldn’t kill it because it can’t reach into his dimension. It would only kill it in this one.
He grinned at Maya. “I have passed in and out of your universe for eons. Always flirting with your reality. Like waves crashing against the beach, I have melded in and out of your history, your world. Everything that exists is because of me.”
I stepped between Maya and the creature. “You are not the God of this universe or any other. You’re a lonely entity who knows nothing of itself.
Faith of a Monster Killer: Killing Forever Book 3 Page 13