by Amy Cross
Making my way past the smashed car, I lean down and look inside, but there's no sign of him. I stumble around to the other side, but just as I'm about to call his name again, I spot his body on the ground, with another figure slumped against him.
“Dean!” I shout, hurrying over and dropping to my knees, only to see to my horror that there's a knife embedded in his chest. His eyes are wide open and glassy, and I check for a pulse before realizing that I'm too late. I keep trying, desperate to find a hint of life, but there's nothing.
He's dead.
“No,” I whisper, with tears in my eyes. “Dean, please...”
For a moment, all I can do is stare down at his dead body. Sometimes I hated him with a passion, but the sight of him like this is too much to bear. There are bruises and cuts all over his face as I reach a hand out and carefully close his eyes.
“You shouldn't waste any tears over him,” a voice says suddenly. “He wasn't... He wasn't worthy of you.”
Turning, I see Eli standing a few feet away, swaying slightly as if he can barely stay upright, while all around us there are a few soft moans coming from the mangled, dying bodies on the grass.
“He was bad,” he continues. “Rotten to the core.”
“Who are you to decide that?” I ask, feeling a flash of anger in my chest. “Are you happy now? Is this what you wanted?”
“I want you to learn from me,” he replies. “I want -” He pauses, as if he's struggling to stay focused. “I want you to see that this ability is a great gift, Holly. To feel through other bodies, to -”
He stops again, and a moment later I hear a faint clicking sound over my shoulder. Turning, I see one of the injured figures trying to get to its feet, only for more blood to flow from its crushed chest as it slumps back down. It tries again and again, almost as if some deep preservation instinct has taken over and the body, even without its mind, refuses to stay down. Finally, after a few more attempts, it topples forward and rests on the grass, still clicking slightly as its shoulder shudders.
“So many deaths,” Eli whispers as I turn back to him. “So many of them died all at once, and every few seconds another is extinguished like...” He turns and looks across the horrific scene, with a hint of pure wonder in his eyes. “I was so good,” he continues. “I paced myself, I forced myself to not kill too many of them at once, and then that idiot plowed through them and...” He gasps, and it's clear that he's like a drug addict who has suddenly been given a rush of what he loves the most. “It's almost too beautiful to handle,” he continues, taking a step forward. “Holly, you have to taste this, you have to understand what I'm feeling. You'll understand immediately.”
Before I can reply, I realize his mind is slipping into mine again, and this time he's bringing a sense of all these deaths with him. I try to force him back, but he's too powerful and a flood of emotion crashes through my thoughts. I fall back, barely able to breathe, and finally I realize that this time he's not trying to take control of my body, he's trying to share his own senses with me. I turn and look across the town square, and I swear I can feel the pain and ecstasy of all these dying people mixing in my mind. There's fear and shock and release, shuddering through my thoughts, and every few seconds I feel a fresh rush of pleasure as another soul leaves its body.
Eli was right.
This does feel beautiful.
It shouldn't, but it does.
“Isn't it exquisite?” Eli's voice whispers in my head finally. “Surrender to it, Holly, and you'll never look back. Death is agony until the final seconds, but then there's this rush of pure pleasure in each of the bodies. What is that, do you think? God's welcome? Something purely biological, a final rush of neurons exploding in the brain? I'm not even sure I want to know the truth, I think I just want to let it wash over me. Embrace the feeling, Holly, let it into your soul. This is only the beginning. Imagine what else you can feel.”
I know I should be horrified, I know I should tell him to go to hell, but...
Ecstasy.
Pure, unadulterated ecstasy.
I can already feel another of the bodies edging closer to death.
Closer...
Almost there...
A pause, as if it's waiting...
And then the rush of pleasure, rippling through my mind like a million tiny stars all flaring at once. Even before I've felt them properly, they're already fading away, disappearing into the darkness above.
Another death.
With my head tilted back and my eyes closed, I let out a faint gasp.
Already, I can sense another rush coming.
I've never felt so alive.
“I told you,” Eli's voice says finally. “Now do you understand? I'm not a monster, Holly. The death of another human being is the ultimate drug. Feeling it this way... No-one on the planet could resist such ecstasy.”
I try to tell him to leave me alone, but the sensations in my head are overpowering my thoughts. Finally, however, from somewhere deep in my mind, I realize I have to resist, that I can't become like Eli. Closing my eyes, I focus on trying to force him out, to stop him sharing these sensations with me, and finally I'm able to feel him being pushed back. He tries to fight me, but no matter how hard he works to stay in my head, I manage to flush him out, pushing and pushing until suddenly I open my eyes again and gasp as I realize that I've pushed too far, and now my thoughts are in his head.
“I knew you could do it,” he stammers, dropping down to his hands and knees on the grass nearby. “I knew you'd have the gift too.”
“I don't want it,” I reply, trying to pull my mind back but feeling as if the threads of our thoughts are getting tangled. “Let me out of here!”
“Once you feel it,” he replies, “you can't hold back. Like me, you'll be forced to explore your new abilities. There'll no longer be any such thing as right and wrong, you'll recognize yourself as something new. You'll do what you can, because that's how life goes on.”
“No!” I shout, starting to pick my thoughts from among his, dragging the strands of my own mind back into my head. “I'm not going to be like you!” I want to push him away again, but I feel as if some of my thoughts are still in his head so, instead, I focus on holding him back as I finish dis-entangling those final few strands. No matter how hard I try, however, I can already feel him forcing his way back into my mind, reaching in from every angle as he tries to swamp my thoughts. Trying not to panic, I push him back.
“You have so much potential,” his voice whispers, as I feel something dark and cold and wet slipping against the inside of my skull, as if my brain has become a nest of snakes. “I have no children of my own, Holly, but you and I were always so close. Just let me peel back the first layer of this miracle for you, and I guarantee you'll dive right in and explore the rest for yourself. I can be your guide -”
“No!” I shout, although I'm not sure if the voice comes from my mouth or if it's just an echo in my mind.
“You can become so much more,” he continues. “I'll be so proud of you -”
“Get out of my head!” I scream, turning away in the hope that I might be able to break the connection. I try crawling across the grass, but Eli is reaching into my arms now, holding them stiff to keep me from getting too far. I can barely even bend my elbows as I reach out and dig my fingers into the cold, damp soil.
“I can train you up -”
“I don't want to do what you do!” I shout, feeling my whole body shudder as Eli pushes his way through my thoughts. The slithering sensation from my brain is pushing down through my neck now, almost choking me. “I'm not like you! You're a monster!”
“Or a freak?” I can hear him laughing now, as if he's amused by my struggles to draw breathe. “So many people interpret my presence in their mind using a snake metaphor. I wonder why that is? Surely you of all people, Holly, should recognize that I only want to help you. With the others, I was taking control, but with you I simply aim to share my gift.”
“I don
't want it,” I stammer. “I'm nothing like you!”
“Then why am I able to feel you pushing me back so strongly? If you weren't like me, you wouldn't be able to resist.”
I let out a cry of pain as I focus on getting him out of my mind. It's not just his voice I can hear in my head, either; he's bringing moans and sobs with him, as if he's trying to share the agony of all the dying people left mangled on the town square. If I surrender even for just one second, they'll flood me completely and I don't think I'll ever be free again. I could embrace the ecstasy and share everything Eli is offering, but I refuse to accept that I'm the kind of person who'd enjoy the pain of others. Struggling to stay on my hands and knees, I hold my breath and concentrate, trying to drive the slithering sensation out of my head.
“I -” I try to whisper, but it's too late.
Eli's too strong.
“The end result will be the same,” he says firmly, his voice echoing through my body. “You'll see things my way eventually, no matter how hard it might seem now.”
There's another death coming.
Another of the poor souls is dying nearby.
The rush is coming, rumbling through the darkness of Eli's mind, threatening to burst into mine.
I can feel him waiting for the ecstasy.
“You'll never be the same again,” he whispers. “Your soul will be forever flooded with the knowledge of your new -”
“I'm nothing like you!” I scream, finally finding the strength to turn to him. At the same time, I feel an immense swell of anger bursting up through my chest and into my head, and I stumble to my feet just as the whole world seems to shatter all around me. I know this is my final chance, even as the ground around me seems to be trembling, so I push back against him with all the strength I have left. For a fraction of a second, I stare straight into Eli's eyes and see a sense of shock, before my own thoughts spill over and rush into his head, crashing against his own mind and then bursting out through his skull. I can hear him screaming, but within a fraction of a second the scream is gone, replaced by my own as I slump down against the wet grass, breathless and with a vast pain burning in my head.
Squeezing my eyes tight shut, I wait as the rush fades before it can reach me.
“Holly!” Eli's voice gasps.
Reaching forward, I find I can move my body properly again. I dig the fingers of my right hand into the soil, holding on tight in case I lose touch with the world.
I wait for his voice.
Silence.
Finally, I realize he's gone.
Staring down at the dark grass, I can see my own breath in the cold night air. I wait, convinced I'll hear Eli's voice, but my mind suddenly feels as if it's my own again. Raising my head, I look toward Eli, and at first I can't quite make out what I'm seeing. He's kneeling just a few feet away, but there's blood all over his chest; a moment later, he slumps forward, almost landing on me, and I see to my horror that his head is missing, with just the bloodied stump of his neck remaining, poking out from the top of his shirt.
Behind him, on the grass, pieces of skull and brain matter have been sprayed to the sidewalk and beyond.
“Eli?” I whisper, still not daring to believe that he's gone.
For a moment, my mind is flooded with the memory of uncle Eli on a sunny day years ago, tipping candy into my outstretched hand. That image quickly fades, however, leaving me once again shivering on the dark town square, with Eli's shattered corpse in front of me.
I wait, but the only sound comes from several groaning bodies nearby.
Stumbling to my feet, I feel dizzy for a moment but I force myself to stagger across the grass, picking my way past the torn and wrecked corpses. I stop at each of them, checking to see if there's anything I can do to help, but they're all too far gone. My mind racing, I keep moving from body to body until I find one that is still twitching and gasping.
“Can you hear me?” I ask, looking down at his bloodied chest and immediately realizing that he's lost too much blood to survive.
He opens his mouth to reply, but all that comes from his mouth is a faint gurgling sound.
Staring into his eyes, I realize that it's the old man who lived next door to Eli. Sure enough, when I look at his mouth, I see his rotten teeth with loose nerves exposed.
“Are you in there?” I continue, waiting to see whether the old man has his body back, or whether Eli is still in there.
“He's gone,” he whispers finally. “Finally... Even the pain is... mine again...”
Reaching down, I try to support him as best I can. While I'm working to get him more comfortable, however, I feel him fall limp in my arms, and when I look down at his face I realize that it's too late.
The only comfort is that his death was his own. At the end, he wasn't forced into a corner of his mind, he didn't have to endure Eli's presence as he died. I guess that was the only possible dignity left for him.
I let him down gently against the grass, before looking across the sea of dead bodies. Somehow, deep down, I can tell that Eli is truly gone.
Silence.
There's no sound.
Just silence.
Finally I reach my upturned car and lean against the door for a moment, trying to steady myself. I feel as if I want to scream, but I know I have to keep going, and that I have to get help for the few people who are left alive. After a moment, I stumble onward, heading across the square, making for the edge of town. I don't know which way to go, not yet, but I have to get to the next town as fast as I can, and then I have to come back with police and ambulances. I almost trip as I get to the sidewalk, and I look up to see the night's stars spinning above me.
Suddenly the sky looks much further away than ever, as if I'm more aware of the vast distance between each star.
I keep walking, barely even able to think as I reach the edge of town and make my way along the road. Ahead, the sun is starting to rise and gradually my thoughts start to settle again, even though I still feel as if my mind is somehow much bigger than my skull. I have no energy at all, but I know I have to keep going, I have to get help and then hopefully someone can explain all of this to me. Those things Eli said can't have been true, they were far too crazy; there has to be some other, more rational explanation for everything that has happened. Finally, I stop for a moment, barely able to summon the strength to keep my eyes open.
Up ahead, silhouetted against the dawn sky, there's a woman sitting on the ground, cradling a child in her arms. After a moment, I realize I can hear the terrified, chaotic cry of a baby.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Holly
“I'm not saying you're lying, Ms. Denton,” the sheriff replies, scratching the back of his neck, “but the thing is... The story you just told me is a little hard to believe. I mean, a man who could reach his mind into the heads of a whole town? Seriously? Maybe you need more time to think about what really happened here...”
Sitting in the back seat of his patrol car, as several state troopers rush past and as ambulances load up more corpses from the town square, I spot Eli's body being rolled onto a stretcher. I've seen so many dead bodies over the past twenty-four hours, first in moonlight and then in the cold light of day, they'd begun to all look the same, as if I was in the middle of a war-zone. The sight of Eli, however, snaps my mind back to harsh reality, and I watch as his left arm momentarily hangs off the side of the stretcher and is then placed carefully over his chest, before his body is covered.
“I told you what happened,” I say finally, turning back to the sheriff. “Did you talk to Tatty?”
“Sure,” he mutters, clearly feeling uncomfortable, “but she -”
“She backed me up?”
He pauses, before nodding. “If the two of you are trying to corroborate each other's stories -”
“Is her baby okay?”
He nods. “He's getting checked over now at the hospital, but so far he seems fine.”
I watch as one of the ambulances pulls away.
“How many died?” I ask finally, turning back to the sheriff.
“At least sixty-five,” he replies, “not including the rotting bodies we discovered behind the doctor's office. It's starting to look like the full count'll be well over a hundred.”
“You need to go back years,” I tell him. “This didn't all happen overnight, Eli has been doing it for a while now.”
“We'll get to that.”
I watch his face for a moment, seeing the discomfort in his eyes. “You still don't believe me, do you?” I continue finally.
“You've gotta admit,” he replies, “it's a pretty crazy story.”
“So how else do you explain what we found here this morning?” I ask. “If you don't believe what I told you, what's your version?”
The truth is, after Tatty and I told the police what had happened, and after the sheriff agreed to drive me back out here, I half-expected to find everything was normal again, that last night's events had been some kind of hallucination. When we finally reached the town square and saw all the bodies, however... That was when I finally, after so much resistance, accepted the horrific truth.
“I don't have a clue exactly what happened,” he admits after a moment, “but so far it looks like someone was killing people here in Tulepa, and finally, whatever happened last night, it all ended with a car being driven right through a crowd. Those are the facts, and the rest... Well, that'll take more time to figure out.”
I watch as Eli's body is loaded into the back of an ambulance.
“You should cut him up,” I continue. “Check his brain, see if there's anything obviously wrong with it.”
“A full autopsy has already been ordered.”
“And ask the survivors, too. I'm sure they'll back me up.”
“There aren't many left,” he replies. “We've spoken to some of them, but they seem to be in a daze. Most of them are jabbering on about having their bodies back. Hopefully they'll start remembering what really happened soon.”