Mayan Afterglow

by A. S. Fenichel

The wheels touched down and the craft bounced several times. The jarring dislodged the injured dragon. It tumbled across the ground in a ball of dust and black limbs.

  When the airplane rolled to a stop, Ian jumped out. Aileen was behind him with the rifle. He could hear Asher behind him as well, but the creature was nowhere in sight.

  “Where did it go?” Aileen asked.

  “Maybe back to Hell,” Asher said.

  Ian was shaking his head. “That would be nice but it’s not likely.”

  He barely had the words out of his mouth when they heard the dragon’s cry from above. Ian turned and fired. Even though he emptied all nine rounds into it, it still kept coming. Aileen had fired too but still the thing dived toward them.

  She dropped the rifle and lifted her hand to the sky. Lightning flew from her hand. The dragon screamed once again and then fell silent for half a second before it crashed to the ground behind them.

  “That was incredible.”

  Ian heard Asher talking, but his eyes were focused on Aileen whose skin had gone very pale. She collapsed in the dirt before he could reach her.

  In an instant he was beside her pulling her into his lap. Eyes barely open, she looked as she had the first time he held her back in Lake George.

  “Is she okay?” Asher asked kneeling beside them.

  Ian pushed her hair behind her ear. “She’s exhausted. It takes a lot out of her to use that power.”

  “How does she do that anyway?”

  “I have no idea, but it hurts me like hell every time she does,” he said holding his head. “Where did that dragon come from? Why are the crows attacking and how did those rotting corpses come after us? All questions that I have no answers to. If you have any, let me know.

  “How far are the pyramids?” Ian asked, picking Aileen up off the ground.

  Asher was pointing to the north. “A few miles. You can see them from here.”

  Ian looked at the monuments rising out of the valley and mountains behind them. He gazed down at the woman in his arms and the urge to pick her up and run as fast and as far as he could was so strong that he had to steady himself. He wanted to hide her away and keep her safe. “We should stay here until she recovers her strength. Then we can walk to the Pyramid of the Sun.”

  The boy gave a low whistle. “And then what?”

  Ian knelt down in the shade of the disabled plane and set Aileen down. He reached inside the cabin for a bag of clothes and blankets and began pulling things out to make her comfortable. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  Aileen opened her eyes and smiled weakly. “Dragon’s gone,” she said.

  He whipped a smudge of dirt from her cheek. “Yes, sweetheart, it’s gone. You smoked it,” he added with a grin.

  She nodded almost imperceptibly and her eyes closed. Ian finished laying blankets on the ground before he moved her over and tossed what remained to Asher.

  “You better get some rest, too,” he said as he moved her body against his, resting her head on his chest.

  Asher took the bag and made himself a place to lie down several feet away.

  * * * * *

  They were already walking toward the Avenue of the Dead and the pyramids when the sky began to lighten. The dragon’s death must have taken a lot of Mictlan’s energy because there had been no further attacks throughout the night. All three of them were armed with both handguns and rifles. Ian walked beside Aileen and every now and then she felt him look over at her. She wanted to reassure him that everything was going to be okay, but since that would have been a lie, she simply kept her gaze forward and continued to walk.

  “I think we’re being watched,” Ian said.

  “Mictlan?” Asher asked.

  “No.”

  Aileen looked toward the dilapidated city and saw what Ian was talking about. People were peeking out from behind crumbling walls.

  “I think they’re waiting to see the outcome,” she said.

  “You sure they’re on our side?” Asher asked.

  “They were drawn here just like we were,” she said.

  “Do you think they’ll help us?” Ian asked.

  “Maybe.”

  Mictlan appeared as they approached the ancient site. The people who had been watching their approach disappeared as if they had never been there.

  Ian lifted his gun but before he could fire, Aileen put up her hand and said, “He’s not whole yet. You’d only be shooting at air and wasting ammo.”

  She was right. If they looked closely they could actually see the structures behind him.

  When they were just a few feet away the specter spoke. “Finally you have arrived, my love.”

  “I am not your anything,” she said bitterly.

  He howled with amusement and his hollow eyes turned toward Ian. “You, Ian Scott, are a difficult man to track down. It took some time to find you and then you were very resourceful. I should thank you, though. Now you’ve brought my wife back to me and life can go on as it is destined.”

  “Your wife?” Ian asked. “Aren’t you being a bit presumptuous?”

  Mictlan took a step closer and though his feet made no imprint in the ground, he was still intimidating. “Perhaps, but she will be mine. I‘ve waited thousands of years for this moment and now it’s here. You don’t think I am going to let some petty thief destroy or sully this moment, do you? I’ll make you a deal. Leave now and I’ll let you and your little pilot friend live. I’m only going to make this offer once. If you cross into the ruins, I’ll kill you both.”

  “Don’t listen, Ian,” Aileen said. “He’ll kill you anyway.”

  Ian walked toward the ruins. He walked around the man who called himself Mictlan before coming to stand in front of him again. “I was never a petty thief. I was an excellent one. Now, however, I think I’m looking for a different kind of life and if you win, I don’t think that will be possible.” Ian glanced back at Aileen for a second.

  “She’s above you, thief. You have no right to her.”

  “Still,” Ian said, “she wants me and not you.”

  Mictlan’s eyes darkened. His transparent form rose up and for a moment they saw him in his true state. His body grew to thirty feet from the ground blocking their path. Spikes protruded from most of his slick, black skin and great yellow teeth hung from his roaring jaw. His enormous head was crowned with more spikes. The sound was deafening. His piercing, black eyes were trained on the three of them before he shimmered with fury for an instant and disappeared from the path.

  “I’m not sure that was wise,” Aileen said, catching her breath.

  “Probably not,” he admitted. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her lips hard. She did not resist him and opened her mouth to his.

  She was tired and dusty and still the taste of her was so wonderful that he nearly forgot that they had another purpose until Asher cleared his throat.

  He let her go reluctantly. “I don’t want to leave you, but you’d better climb that pyramid.”

  “I‘ll go to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. Mictlan belongs to the darkness and will go to the Pyramid of the Moon. He’ll use the power of this place and me to become whole in this world, Ian. At that moment, you will have a chance to send him back to where he belongs. If you wait too long he’ll get so strong that it may be too late. I’ll do what I can, but ultimately it will be up to you two.”

  Ian jokingly saluted, but said, “Just me though. Asher you go with Aileen. Keep her safe. I’ll go to the Pyramid of the Moon and wait for my moment to strike.”

  He looked at her one more time hoping that even without the words she could hear what was in his heart. When he released her, she turned and walked toward the Pyramid of the Sun and did not look back. Asher glanced at Ian then turned to follow Aileen. He clutched his pistol like he’d been shooting demons his entire life.

  Finally Ian turned and walked in the opposite direction toward the Pyramid of the Moon. He would climb it and face the solid version of Mi
ctlan alone.

  One at a time, the people who had watched them approach the old city began to follow him. He ignored them. By the time he reached the base of the pyramid he sensed the crowd had grown quite large. He turned to find fifty or more thin-faced, tired-looking people watching him.

  “What do you want?” he asked, holding up his gun.

  A woman with dirty brown hair and smudges of dirt on her face stepped forward. She spoke with a distinct accent from the southeastern United States. “We want to help.”

  “He’ll kill you.”

  “Maybe, but we’re sure to die if he survives,” she said.

  Ian shook his head. “Go back behind the walls. I can’t be responsible for your lives, too.”

  Another one of the group stepped forward. A man with dark brown hair that was graying around the temples said, “We’ve been waiting for her to come. For a while we thought she was a myth. Then we saw your plane doing battle with a demon and we knew that it’s all true. We’ve been waiting and now we’ll do what we can to help.”

  The woman added, “If we die then at least we died for something and not just starving in the desert.”

  Head still shaking, Ian turned toward the pyramid. “Well then climb at your own risk, my friends.”

  Aileen climbed up the steps of the Pyramid of the Sun. Asher was close behind her. He had shot two crows that had swooped down on them and then it had been quiet.

  “I think Ian has company,” Asher said.

  Aileen strained her eyes toward the other pyramid. She saw people climbing up. “The others.”

  “I hope they want to help and are not chasing him.”

  She grinned. “He can take care of himself.”

  “And us too.”

  “Yes, and us too.”

  She was too late in noticing the smell of rotting flesh or maybe the breeze had blown in the wrong direction but suddenly she was bouncing down hard steps. The rotting corpse on top of her snapped his broken teeth and the stench of a diseased mouth nearly caused her to black out. She pushed at it with her arms while using her legs to try to stop the fall.

  The air went out of her lungs as she came to a sudden stop on a crumbled bit of steps. Having landed on top, Aileen jumped back. She scrambled backward on all fours. The creature leaped forward. Striking out with her entire body, she sliced through its neck with the long knife she pulled from her boot. Its pus-covered body fell at her feet while its head tumbled a few yards away.

  “Good God!” Asher cried as he ran down the steps.

  Aileen turned her head and vomited up what was left of her sparse breakfast.

  “You okay?”

  She pushed herself up. Asher took her elbow and helped her to her feet. “Yes,” she said.

  They started back up the steps.

  “For what it’s worth, Aileen, you were fantastic just then. I was terrified until I saw you pull that machete from your boot.”

  “It’s just a knife.”

  “Damn big one,” he mumbled as they climbed on.

  As Ian approached the top he stopped and turned to his companions. “Try to encircle the perimeter. We can’t hurt him until he’s fully in this world. Hopefully, I can manage it on my own. You all just watch and wait.”

  Without a word the crowd dispersed in a line going both to the right and left of him. They made their way around the top of the pyramid standing at least three deep.

  “Incredible,” Ian said to no one.

  The Southern girl who had spoken before was beside him. When he crawled on his belly toward the top she followed on her stomach as well.

  He turned toward her. Her hair was straight and long and she had gathered it back into a tight ponytail. Although far too thin, she was still a pretty girl. “How old are you?”

  Brown eyes looked back at him and she smiled. Perfect teeth that had probably spent some time in braces, shone whiter than he expected against her dirty skin. “I’m nineteen. How old are you?”

  “Thirty-two,” he said, surprised by her directness.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Ian.”

  “I’m Nancy.”

  “Well, Nancy, have you ever fired a gun?”

  “I grew up in Georgia, son. Of course I have.”

  He handed her the rifle and said, “Only use it if you have to. Try to stay hidden. If it looks like he’s winning, shoot even if you think you might hit me. I’m expendable, Nancy, but he must be destroyed. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. I understand,” she said, seeming much older than her nineteen years.

  Ian tried to see across to the Pyramid of the Sun but all he saw was the structure. In the high sun he couldn’t make out Aileen or Asher. He couldn’t take the time to marvel at the fact that the sun had broken through the dark red clouds.

  Did they make it up to the top or were they already dead? His stomach churned with the latter thought. If she was gone what would he do? It didn’t matter. Without her none of this mattered but either way he would make Mictlan pay for what he had done to her.

  He rolled onto his back and checked the clip in his pistol. He tucked it into his jeans and then took a second gun from the back of his belt and checked that one. A third gun came from a strap around his lower leg. He checked that one, too.

  “Is that it?” Nancy asked.

  He grinned. “No, but it’ll have to do for now.” He dug in the pack he’d carried and handed her a box of ammunition. “Here, this is all the ammo I have. Don’t use it unless I fail,” he reminded her again.

  Aileen stepped onto the top of the pyramid. Blue sky poked out above them. The sun shone for the first time in almost eleven months. She turned her face up to the warming globe.

  “Is that a good sign?” Asher asked.

  “I don’t know but it sure feels good,” she said.

  As the sun reached higher the familiar dark red clouds filled in the blue sky eventually closing over the sun. Once again the Earth was cast in darkness. The Pyramid of the Moon loomed black in the near distance. She should have been afraid of that structure but all she could think was that Ian was there. Her future was with Ian if only she could survive the next few minutes. It was a big “if”.

  No time for more thoughts of the future. Mictlan appeared at the top of the opposite pyramid. She faced him.

  “Asher, no matter what happens, don’t interfere. You keep anything that comes up the pyramid away from me but do no more,” she commanded.

  “What if…”

  “No. You cannot interfere. He has to become mortal in this world for Ian to kill him and send him back where he belongs.”

  “I understand,” the boy said, though his voice sounded skeptical.

  Aileen looked up toward the dark sky and pictured the bright sun behind the clouds. Her face glowed from within. She lifted both hands and the clouds parted enough for the sun to make an appearance.

  A bolt of blue lightning flashed across the sky from the other pyramid. The distance was too far to see detail of anything but Mictlan’s human face appeared directly in front of her. His terrible smile like a gash across his face, he mocked her.

  White light flew from her fingers across the expanse hitting Mictlan. His laughter filled both sky and land.

  A werewolf skulked onto the top of the pyramid. Asher fired two quick shots into the beast’s head and it dropped where it stood. He reloaded just as another reached the summit. He fired again but missed. The beast lunged toward Aileen. He fired again this time hitting the wolf in the nose. The impact stopped its forward motion. It ran to the right, bleeding and whimpering before it tumbled down the side of the pyramid toward the hard ground.

  Asher reloaded, still keeping himself between Aileen and whatever might come over the sides of the structure.

  She could see Mictlan clearly now. He was becoming whole. He was gaining power. She could feel her own life slipping away. Asher was just behind her. His warm back touched her. She leaned against him.

  “Stay
with me, Aileen,” she heard him saying above the thunderous lightning and gunfire.

  From the corner of her eye she saw a rotting corpse drop to her left. With no time to worry about Asher, she focused on the enemy. He was roaring as he grew stronger.

  “Aileen?”

  “I don’t know if I can,” she confessed. Her entire body pounded with agony. Her life was ebbing away, draining into Mictlan.

  “You have to,” Asher said. “Ian will die if you fail.”

  Ian. Oh God, Ian is over there. She turned her face up toward the sky and her prayer was more of a plea. “I need more. Please.”

  She put her hands down and the white light disappeared. She saw the moment of confusion on Mictlan’s face before she lifted one hand. A bolt of lightning flew across the distance hitting him in the chest.

  He screamed with rage and lifted his own hand shooting back. His bolt merged with hers filling the Earth and sky with blinding light.

  Aileen screamed in pain.

  When Ian reached the top of the Pyramid of the Moon he heard the crackle of lightning and felt the now familiar pain in his head. Now that the sun had gone back behind the clouds he could make out the figure of Aileen across the way. She was only a dot from that distance and she seemed small compared to the monster in front of him. He could still see through The Lord of the Dead. He had to wait.

  “What are you doing? Why don’t you shoot?” Nancy asked.

  “Not yet. He’s not here yet. It will just go through him,” Ian yelled above the cracking thunder.

  Creatures started scaling the side of the pyramid. Men and women who no longer lived but still walked the Earth and a few werewolves climbed higher.

  Nancy’s eyes widened. “You stay and take care of him. We’ll deal with the rest.”

  He heard gunfire. He saw creatures battling people and he heard the cries of both sides dying. Ian Scott stood his ground. He made no move until he saw the lightning change and Aileen cried out. He felt it more than heard it over the great distance with all the noise.

  She was dying. He knew it was true. Part of him began to die as well. A gun in each hand, he began to fire before he even realized he had. He was not sure if he had waited long enough until his shots hit the mark pushing Mictlan backward.