Quest SMASH

by Joseph Lallo

  He has the girl?

  “She’s with him. I’m not sure who has what.”

  Kole stepped up to stand beside Major. “Are you talking to these coyotes?” he asked.

  “Wolves.”

  “Whatever. Can you really understand them?”

  Our pact involved you and you only.

  “I know,” Major said, looking at Kole. “I know.”

  “What, man?” Kole asked. “What do you know?” He shuffled on his feet, clenching his fists and looking back and forth between the wolves and Major.

  We’ll still hunt the man in order to fulfill His command, but we also want recompense for the delay. The girl.

  “I don’t give a fuck about her.”

  Then it isn’t genuine, is it? We’ll take him, too.

  Major felt the alpha male’s mental nod toward Kole. “He is not mine.”

  “Hey, hold up. What the hell are you talking about?” Kole asked.

  Major turned to look at Kole, his eyes hard, dark, determined. “It’s out of my control,” he said.

  “What is?” Kole asked.

  The alpha male padded forward and the rest of the pack circled the two men while the horde remained fixed. Kole looked at Major and then at the wolves, understanding seeping into his mind like water running over a dam.

  “You can’t do this,” he yelled.

  The old man shrugged and took a step back as the alpha male emitted a low growl, ears up and eyes fixed on Kole.

  “This is not my doing. I’m a subject of this place, like you. I wouldn’t worry about it. The reversion is going to swallow us all soon, anyway.”

  Kole gave Major a menacing look before tossing his bloodied bandages to the ground. A few of the hunters snuck forward and sniffed the blood as if it were an aphrodisiac.

  “In a world losing all sensory input, you throw hungry wolves a handful of bloody bandages.”

  Before Kole could reply, the alpha male sprang forward. His lean body flew through the air toward Kole’s neck. Kole raised a forearm, striking the alpha male on the head, deflecting his lunge with a whimper. The other hunters stepped forward.

  No. He is mine.

  “They want to prove themselves, the way you did. They want to fight their way to the top of the pack.”

  “Stop talking to them, you asshole,” Kole said, spitting each syllable into the still air.

  Mine.

  The hunters stopped, but their eyes remained locked on Kole.

  “Why are you letting them attack me?” Kole asked.

  “I’m not letting them do anything,” Major said. “They have needs to fulfill, like all of us, and they have beliefs about the reversion and what might stop it.”

  “Human blood?”

  “Probably. But I’m not a wolf, so I can’t say for sure.”

  The alpha male growled again, shaking its head and realigning its equilibrium after absorbing Kole’s shot.

  “What about Mara and Samuel? Let’s sell them out.”

  “Mara,” Major said, “is not worth a thing to me. Or them. But Samuel. He has something I need, and if I have to sacrifice you and the girl to get it, I will.”

  “This isn’t fair,” Kole said.

  “Of course it isn’t, you spoiled little shit. You’ve slipped into another locality, one damned for all time. Or at least until the reversion eats it. You were nothing but a disgusting human being in your life. Why do you think you’re owed any decency now? Be happy you didn’t slip into a place more violent than this. The alpha male will tear out your throat and you’ll be dead in minutes. Trust me. There are worse fates for those like you.”

  Enough.

  Major held both hands up and stepped backward. The pack stepped past him until they encircled Kole. The alpha male crouched down before him, ready to spring. Kole looked at Major with a bloody tear running down his face. He shook his head at the old man, but said nothing.

  The alpha male launched himself through the air again. This time, Kole’s defensive blow glanced off the beast’s muzzle and into thin air. The wolf’s paws landed on Kole’s neck, pushing him backward until he lost balance and collapsed hard on the ground. The wolf opened its jaws and clamped down on Kole’s throat like a steel bear trap. The wolf growled and shook its head until blood spurted from Kole’s jugular. The man’s eyes remained open as his body twitched in the dirt. When he no longer moved, the alpha male raised his head and howled into the darkness.

  Major stood by, careful not to interrupt the alpha male and his hunters. He closed his eyes as the tearing of flesh filled his ears. The locality would devour the experience like everything else, but until that happened, Major had to live it. When the wolves finished their obscene feast, the alpha male nudged a hunter. The wolves gathered behind their leader amongst the horde still fixed to the ground.

  And now the other. The female is of no consequence to me. She has no power.

  “But he does, and you’d better remember that.”

  The alpha male looked at Major, blood staining his coat.

  I know. I felt it last time. But that was before. I have become more powerful since.

  “So has he,” Major said. “So has he.”

  ***

  “I think we’re here for a different reason. I think we have work to do, people we owe,” Mara said.

  Samuel nodded, taking deep, long breaths. “Redemption?” he asked.

  “Of sorts. Do you trust me?” Mara asked.

  “I guess.”

  “Give me your hand.”

  When Samuel’s hand landed in Mara’s palm, she threw a shoulder into the door and exited the cabin. The horde surrounded them, but they stood motionless in place.

  “Why aren’t they coming at us?” Samuel asked as they sprinted down the path and away from the reversion.

  “A force has held them temporarily. They won’t remain immobile long. Hurry. Let’s get some distance.”

  Samuel looked at Mara for a moment, realizing there was more to her experience in the reversion than what she told him. She let go of his hand.

  Mara ran down the path, her dark hair swaying against her back. Samuel followed her as she continued moving east. The trees hung over the path like dangling fly paper, ready to snag them at any moment. Mara kept moving through the darkened landscape until the path opened on a plain that stretched as far as she could see. Long wheat stood still and silent. Samuel looked up and saw the reversion in the sky, constantly moving east toward the endgame.

  “They’re not behind us,” Samuel said.

  “They will be. Come on.”

  Mara sprinted again, this time through the field toward a black hole on the other side. As Samuel drew closer, he realized they were heading for the gaping maw of a cave embedded in the deep rock of a mountain. The opening appeared as a solid wall of jet-black fabric.

  “We’re going in there?” he asked.

  She ignored his question and slowed to a jog. As she approached the entrance to the cave, the wheat tapered off until there was nothing but undisturbed dirt. Samuel felt the muscles in his body tighten, and he had to fight to keep his bladder under control.

  “It feels evil,” he said.

  “It probably is,” Mara said. “But it’s our last chance to escape the reversion. And the wolves.”

  As if on cue, Samuel heard another round of howling. He looked over a shoulder and saw the first shapes shuffling from the tree line into the field. He recognized the gait and knew the horde was back on their trail.

  Mara looked at him and took his hand again. She looked at the cave and back to the undead.

  “It’s your call. I can’t make you.”

  Samuel nodded and followed her through the opening, into darkness that penetrated him to the core.

  ***

  “I could use the horde to draw him out,” Major said.

  The undead. They avoid that place.

  “I know. Which is w
hy we must get him to give up. You and your pack are not great enough in number to pursue them through the labyrinth.”

  How did the girl know about it?

  Major felt an accusation in the unspoken question.

  “They have been running for their lives, to the east. The reversion has pushed them there.”

  The wolf licked his teeth and circled back around to survey the hunters. The old man was right.

  You have bait he will take?

  “I have many tools at my disposal,” Major said as a smile spread across his face. “I don’t know if he’ll leave the girl, but he will be disoriented, at the very least.”

  Go. I will wait for you. But realize time here is short, and the reversion slows for nothing. I will not suffer another cycle by failing Him.

  Major nodded and stepped past a throng of the undead as they approached the cave. He tried not to look at their faces as he contemplated a strategy for luring Samuel out. And he needed enough time to find the talisman before the alpha male tore the flesh from his bones.

  He couldn’t remember when he struck a deal with the alpha male because communicating with the wolf was always tedious. The animal spoke with a limited vocabulary and used its few words in the wrong context. Major remembered enough to know the alpha was doomed to another reversion without capturing Samuel, and Major couldn’t escape without the talisman. The wolf would get Samuel’s flesh if Major received the talisman.

  ***

  What appeared to be a black hole from the outside softened within. Ancient stalactites and stalagmites bit into the cavernous space. The old rock glowed with a dull, heavy cast of grey light, as if it came from the final throes of a dying sun. The floor of the cave was covered with a fine powder, dry and unlike the heavy, moist soil of the forest. Passages extended in all directions, heading into the depths of the mountain.

  Several of the walls wept. Trickling streams of water followed grooves etched in the stone over eons, the droplets crashing into puddles on the ground like cannon fire echoing throughout the space.

  Mara stopped and looked at Samuel as they stood shoulder to shoulder, their backs to the entrance. She looked into his face, shuddering at the pale complexion brought on by the inner glow of the cave. When she turned to look at the cave entrance, she saw the darkness of the locality brought by the reversion, making it seem like a heavy curtain had been drawn across the last remnants of their world.

  Samuel’s eyes met Mara’s. He let his breathing slow while surveying the inside of the cave. The glow of light produced phantom shadows that slithered over the pockmarked stone. He felt the cold, moist, subterranean air on his face and detected the faint aroma of wet limestone. The open passages reached out to Samuel like bony fingers threatening to pull him inside the mountain.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  Mara looked back to the entrance. She jogged to an outcrop of rock against the north wall of the cave, Samuel running behind her. She placed her back against the cool wall and then stood upright when it chilled her to the core.

  “We can hide,” she said.

  “From who? For how long? I don’t see how—”

  Mara cut him off by placing her index finger to his lips.

  “The horde hates this place, and I don’t know why. I remember seeing them standing out front before, a long time ago, when I first got here. Kole and I were hiding in the trees and we saw Major coming out. But the undead, they weren’t in here.”

  “What about the wolves?” Samuel asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  The air within the chamber changed as a slight breeze raised gooseflesh on their arms.

  “What’s the point?” The question came from the cave’s entrance, echoing off the walls until reaching their ears in a concurrent reverberation. “You’re only delaying the inevitable,” Major said, his words drawing nearer.

  “C’mon,” Mara whispered.

  She grabbed Samuel’s hand and sprinted around the side of the outcrop. The two rushed headlong into the nearest tributary and raced through the kinked maze of stone until it ended in a solid wall of rock. Mara turned and ran back toward the main cavern, towing Samuel by the arm. She ducked into another passage, only to end up at another dead end.

  “Go ahead and try them all. I’ll wait. But the wolves, eh, not so sure about their level of patience. And the undead, not sure if they even understand the idea any longer.” Major’s voice came through the air with clarity. He was getting closer.

  “What do you want?” Samuel asked as he stepped around Mara to face the entrance to the cave.

  Major appeared from behind an outcrop. His hair appeared more silvery than before. He walked with a lurch, and the headband slipped lower on his forehead, making his eyes forlorn.

  “There’s a lot about this place that you don’t know, son.”

  “So you’re my father now, my caretaker, is that it?”

  Major chuckled and waved a hand in the air. “You and the girl come out here so we can talk like human beings,” Major said. “Ain’t like I can do that with the undead or the pack now, can I?”

  Mara shook her head and tried to pull Samuel toward a third unexplored passage deep under the mountain. He bit his bottom lip and stepped in front of her, pulling his hand from hers.

  “Okay.”

  “I’m really a business man, Samuel. Once you understand that, I think you’ll find what I have to offer will be a fair trade, one that benefits both parties involved.”

  “Don’t trust him, Samuel. He’s devious and manipulating. He belongs here. He deserves to be eaten by that cloud, swallowed by the reversion.”

  “Mara, dear, such ugly words from a tragic beauty.”

  “You say you have business with me,” Samuel said. “Let’s hear it.”

  “I had to bleed for you, Samuel. I took one for the team back there in the woods when the wolves were attacking. Me and the alpha male, we got our own little side deal contingent on getting you here, at this point in the reversion. I don’t understand a lot of the bullshit that goes down in these dying worlds but I do know I had to get you here, now, to save my own ass. But I might be able to save yours too.”

  “Where’s Kole?” Mara asked.

  “The horde got him,” Major said. “They were so busy with him they let me go on by.”

  Mara looked at Samuel, neither of them swallowing the lie.

  Samuel scoffed and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. “You have thirty more seconds before we run headlong into the mountain. If the reversion is coming, we’ll go on our own terms, with each other. Judging by the ghouls that didn’t follow you in here, and the limp you got going on, I don’t think you’re in a position to chase us down. What do you want, old man?”

  “Fine. I’ve made many deals in my time, and I’ve always believed a certain level of civility helped to ease the negotiations.”

  “I never said we were negotiating. You’re down to twenty seconds.”

  Major stepped forward, distributing his weight on both legs. He looked over a shoulder at the entrance to the cave, where dark coats of fur had begun to pace at the threshold.

  “They’re scared of it. Won’t come in. Yet. The wolves and ghouls will wait, but I won’t. I need to slip again, and you have the talisman to do it. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t matter—you’re going to slip with me. I’ve done it before, slipping with someone else. It’s risky, sure, but no more risky than remaining here in this dying place. And the girl, well, it would be good business to leave her for the wolves. She’s flickering out, one way or another.”

  Mara shivered and reached for Samuel’s hand.

  “I don’t even know if I can slip with another. And if I did, why would I take you? I can take Mara with me.”

  Major laughed. His voice echoed throughout the cavern and brought a yelp from one of the pack that strayed too close to the entrance.

  “And how are you going to do t
hat, Samuel? Tell me. Exactly how are you going to slip into another locality, let alone find a way to take her with you? You may have the talisman, but I have the know-how,” Major said, tapping the side of his head with his index finger. “You got the car, but I got your keys.” A dark, greasy smile spread across Major’s face.

  “You’re an evil son of a bitch,” Samuel said.

  “We don’t have time for empty insults, young man. You get the knowledge of the slip in return for my ticket and the girl. Take it or leave it.”

  Mara glared at Major.

  “How do I know you really know how to use the talisman to slip this locality? How can I be sure you’re not tricking me?”

  “You don’t,” Major said, fighting laughter. “You can’t be sure. When do you ever get certainty in life? Thought you’d at least wised up to that in your time here.”

  Samuel turned and tucked his chin to his chest. He used the back of his hand to caress the side of Mara’s face. She closed her eyes and pulled his hand closer with her own.

  “Can you trust me?” he whispered.

  Mara nodded without speaking.

  “We do it on my terms,” Samuel said, spinning to address Major.

  “If we don’t get going soon, there aren’t going to be terms to follow.”

  Samuel took a deep breath and nodded at Major.

  “First thing you need to do is stand with your arms outstretched,” Major said.

  Samuel followed the old man’s instructions. He walked to the center of the open cavern while Mara remained with her back to the limestone.

  “Good. Now close your eyes and visualize another place. Think white, sandy beaches and palm trees. Any locality without a fucking cloud would be perfect.”

  Samuel closed his eyes, and his face wrinkled as if he were devouring lemons. “I can’t. My mind is racing. I can’t think.”

  Major stepped closer and spoke under his breath, so only Samuel could hear. “If you can’t do this, big man, that little tart of yours is going to become a meal for the pack. And you and I won’t be far behind. Close your eyes and try again.”

  Samuel clenched his fists and brought them down to his waist before stopping and letting them fall against the sides of his legs. He concentrated, trying to clear his head of the distractions in the cave and the desperation of his situation. The air surrounding him lightened, and he felt a faint breeze blow across his face.