“You should ask Myra to bring you some sheets, so you can have privacy like we do.”
“If I’m here for long, I will.”
“Okay,” she said. “Thanks for understanding. That’s all I really wanted to say.”
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“I really don’t think we need to talk, if that’s okay.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. It’s better if we keep it that way.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. What’s the point? I have my own problems. And for all I know, you could be a psycho.”
“I’m not a psycho.”
She looked away and said nothing.
“Come on,” he said. “This is stupid. We should share information.”
“Sorry, but I don’t want to share. Just let me know about the toilette, and that’ll be enough communication.”
Kevin sighed.
Everybody went quiet for a few seconds. The room became uncomfortable and awkward. Then the little boy said, “What’s your name, Mister?”
She scowled. “No Andy! We’ll mind our business, he’ll mind his!”
The boy clammed up instantly, and went back to playing with toy robots in the floor. The woman gave Kevin a long, cold stare, then picked up a magazine and started reading. A silent tension immediately settled in.
Freakin’ hostile, thought Kevin.
But why?
He supposed that all kinds of stuff might’ve happened to make her act this way. Probably she was scared. Probably there were threats hanging over her.
But I’m no threat, he thought. Heck, I might even be able to help her.
4 - Reject
Being in jail was mostly just boring. Or at least that was Kevin’s observation after his first hour as a prisoner.
He lay back on his crummy little bed, sometimes with eyes closed, other times with eyes open. Occasionally he would listen to the two in the other cell talking to each other. He felt bad for eavesdropping, but they weren’t trying to be quiet or anything, and there was nothing else to listen to. From what he could tell, they were a brother and a sister with a big age gap, and they seemed pretty comfortable with their situation. He got the feeling that they’d been in here for a long time.
The woman, who seemed to be named April, could probably give him all kinds of useful information about this place, if she would just open up.
I should try again, he thought. Won’t hurt anything, and what else can I do?
“Listen,” he said to her. “I know you don’t want to talk to me, but I’m not giving up on this. You need to know that. I’d really like to get the heck out of this place, and I’m willing to bet you feel the same way. If we work together maybe we can come up with something.”
April didn’t even glance his way. Andy, on the other hand, seemed interested but was obviously afraid to speak after his sister’s warning.
Maybe persistence is the key to this. If I keep pressing, I bet I can penetrate that icy exterior. Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all, and if you fall off the horse you’re supposed to hop right back on. And etc…
He tried again. And again.
And one more time.
Still no cigar.
Not even a whiff of cigar smoke.
The thought sent his mind in another direction entirely, reminding him that he’d probably kill somebody for a cigar right now, or a pipe… Heck, even a pouch full of chewing tobacco would be nice. Anything with nicotine in it.
He let out a long, weary sigh, and started trying to think of other ways to get the woman to open up. Because it was just about the only productive avenue he could see at the moment.
Then the door at the end of the hall opened, and Myra walked in.
She passed by his cell, walking briskly without looking at him, and went to the cell of the two siblings instead.
April looked up but didn’t stand. The kid stared down at the floor, and there was a tenseness in his posture, like a stray dog expecting to get kicked in the ribs.
Myra said to April, “Your father’s here. He wants to see you.”
“What about Andy?”
“He wants to see Andy too, but today we’re only letting him see you.”
The young woman nodded, then got up and went to the kid. She whispered something to him and gave him a small kiss on the head.
Myra produced a key and opened the lock, then led April out. No one looked at Kevin as they passed by his cell.
When they were gone, Kevin decided to try making friends with the kid, but it didn’t work out. The first few times Kevin attempted to make conversation Andy wouldn’t respond at all, just kept playing with his toys.
Kevin pressed anyway, and finally the boy spoke, his voice on the edge of tears. “I’m sorry Mister. I don’t want to be mean, but she said not to talk to you.”
“Did she say why?”
“Because we don’t know you.”
“But how can you know me if you don’t talk to me?”
“You can ask her that. She said not to talk to you, and I don’t wanna get in trouble.”
Kevin thought of a thousand other things he could say that might convince the kid, but then he just sighed and gave up. Didn’t seem right to pressure him into breaking rules. And the sister was being sensible anyway. Why should the two of them trust him? They had no reason to open up.
5 - Breakthrough
April came back about an hour and a half later, this time with one of the guards accompanying her instead of Myra. And she looked a little different than before.
Now she was wearing a very nice yellow and white dress that looked like something a woman might wear to church on easter, and black heels. She also had noticeably more makeup on, and her long hair was free, hanging down past her shoulders.
After the guard had locked her back up and left, she walked to the near edge of her cell and said to Kevin, “Sorry for being rude before. Let’s be friends, okay?”
“Friends? What happened to change your mind?”
“I overheard some things about you out there.”
“Like what?”
“They’re afraid of you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and as far as I’m concerned, that means you’re one of the good guys.”
“They’re afraid? Sort of surprises me.”
“Surprises me too. Never seen them afraid of anybody... But anyway, you have to understand, until I knew a little more about who you were, I had to assume the worst about you. When you live under these circumstances, with your life constantly under threat for a long time, it gets harder and harder to trust people.”
“I get that,” he said.
“Thanks for not holding it against us.”
“No big deal. I’d be stupid to hold a grudge. And anyway, I’m dying for somebody to talk to in here. This kind of silence is a little hard for me to stomach.”
“Social butterfly I guess?”
“Me? Gosh no. I’m a Forest Ranger. I love to be alone. Usually. But this is different. This sort of silence is just empty. It’s making me ill.”
“I was like that for a while, but I’m over it now. I guess I’m not really used to having anyone to talk to anymore. For a while my father would come down here to see me and Andy every day, but now they don’t let him come here at all. They just bring me or Andy out to meet him a couple of times a month. Sometimes both of us at the same time, but that’s rare.”
“Why won’t they let you see him?”
“They don’t really trust him anymore, and keeping us here is part of their insurance policy. He’s the mayor of this town, and he’s made deals with them... All the mayors here made deals with them, going all the way back to the founding of the town.”
“Them?” he prompted.
“Myra and her brother Tobias are part of this group, called the ‘Children of Apep.” It’s sort of like a cult.”
“A religious cult?”<
br />
“Yeah, basically. They believe in this monster, almost like a demon... A big snake creature from Egyptian mythology. My father was part of the group too, in a big way, which is how he became mayor here. But then he caught on to what they were really doing…”
“What are they really doing?”
“Bad things. Really bad… He couldn’t live with it, so he broke some rules. They responded by taking me and Andy away from him. We’re basically being used as hostages to make sure he tows the line.”
“So you’re saying Myra, and her brother, and your dad-
“Not just my dad. Pretty much the entire local government around here. They’re all caught up in it.”
“Sounds pretty crazy.”
“I know how it sounds,” she said. “Sounds like a bunch of bologna, but I’ve seen things...”
“Like what?”
“I’ve seen Myra and Tobias do weird things... They aren’t normal people.”
“I’ve seen it too,” he said.
“Really? Well that’s good. ‘Cause it would be awfully hard to convince somebody without some kind of proof, and I don’t have any.”
“I don’t know about the Egyptian monster crap, but I saw what Myra can do, so I’m not inclined to feel all that skeptical. Do you have any idea what all that gear out there in the other room is? The big ring with the symbols all over it, and all that weird equipment?”
“I know a few rumors, but that’s all. You would be skeptical if I told you that part.”
“Try me.”
“Okay. They say it lets you travel to other worlds.”
He nodded. “That’s exactly what I expected.”
“Really?”
“That’s what it looks like, isn’t it? Some kind of teleport machine. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Myra and her brother were alien invaders. That’s the best explanation I can think of for what I’ve seen her do.”
“So you believe?”
“I guess. “
“They say the big snake thing that they worship… It’s supposedly not here in this world. It’s in the other place. On the other side of the ring.”
“Is the other place called hell by chance?”
“Seems like it might be pretty close.”
“Yeah.”
There was a moment of hesitation, and then she said, “There’s actually something even worse about all this that I haven’t even told you yet.”
“Really? Like what?”
“Well, the snake monster… if it’s real… Which, maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t…”
“Yeah?" he said. “What about it?”
“Supposedly it eats little kids.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Sounds like something out of a bad fairy tale, right? But supposedly they really do bring little kids to it, and it gobbles ‘em up. There’s like a big mass sacrifice, basically. Every year they kill another batch of kids. That’s what this jail down here is for. They kidnap kids, and put them in these cells, then take them away on a certain date. Dad always thought they were going off to become priests and priestesses; that they would have good lives. Most of the members of the cult believe that story, which is why they usually kidnap poor kids, or kids in foster care. Sometimes they go for kids with abusive parents… But, turns out, it was all a lie. My dad found this old book with the whole story in it, about what the snake monster eats, and confronted Myra. She probably wanted to kill him, but they still needed him. This town is important to them for some reason, and they’ve been using this church as a secret headquarters forever, so they took me and my brother to use as leverage, to make sure my father kept playing the role they intended.”
“And I guess it worked?”
“Yeah. Of course it did. He’ll never say a word to anybody now.”
Kevin ran the facts through his mind a couple of times, and saw one big plot hole that didn’t fit.
“What’s the big benefit from all this?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Myra and her brother are convincing people to kidnap kids, right?”
“Right,” she said.
“And that’s against the law. Kidnapping kids is a big step to take for the average person.”
“Sure.”
“So what do they gain? Why do they involve themselves in something so risky? What kind of people would get caught up in something like that?”
“Actually, you’d be surprised. Most of them are important people. Famous people. Actors, CEOs, politicians. To get into the group they offer their financial support, and favors. In return they get special curative elixirs that can keep you alive and healthy. Myra and her brother have the cure for cancer, Parkinson’s disease, AIDS... They claim that they make the stuff out of the venom from the big snake monster.”
“This sounds so ridiculous. Like, there’s basically no point in telling anybody, because all they would do is start measuring you for a straitjacket.”
“I know,” she said. “But I’m not making anything up. Every single word is true, as far as I know. They feed kids to a monster, and the monster gives them special medicines in exchange. That’s the story.”
Kevin glanced down at Andy, suddenly feeling awkward for talking about stuff like this in front of him—maybe they were scaring him or something. But he was sprawled in the floor with a bowl full of crayons and a coloring book, paying them no mind at all.
Guess he’s used to it. This is his life.
Kevin went quiet for a spell, reflecting on the conversation so far, and chewing on his nails.
And doing a million other little fidgety things.
God I really need a smoke.
“Not to change the subject,” he said. “But are you, by chance, a smoker?”
“No. Never even tried them before.”
“Crap.”
“You smoke?”
“Yeah. Love ‘em.”
“I can try to get you some next time they take me out.”
“Really? Will they let you do that?”
“Sure. Hell, Myra might even bring you some if you just asked her. She doesn’t care about stuff like that.”
“I’m not asking her for anything.”
“It might be easier for you here if you softened up a little. She’s scary—I get that—but she can be reasonable in her own way.”
“She’s a murderer. I saw her... eating... a bunch of campers that she killed. There was a woman with them who was still alive, and I tried to save her. Obviously it didn’t work out. So Myra’s got me over a barrel in here but I don’t want to be on her good side. I’d rather rot in here forever.”
“Would you rather die? Because that’s probably what’ll happen if you don’t ease up.”
Kevin shrugged, said nothing. It wasn’t a subject he wanted to explore at the moment.
April, apparently sensing his discomfort, quickly changed the subject. “Is it true?” she asked. “What they were saying out there?”
“What do you mean?”
“They said you were a shapeshifter. Like a werewolf or something.”
He laughed. “Why would you believe something like that? Most folks would think that was crazy talk.”
“Like I said before, I’ve seen some crazy things. Myra and Tobias can change into monsters. Why wouldn’t there be others who can do the same?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”
“So is it true? Can you really change shape?”
“Sometimes. Not right now.”
“Why not now? Is it only at night under the moon or something?”
He laughed again. “I’m no werewolf.”
“Then how do you do it?”
“I have this device that was given to me by some pretty weird people. It’s a mask that releases vapor. Breathing the vapors puts something in your blood. You have to load it up with a specially prepared solution. You have to gather DNA samples from different animals. It’s very complex. But it’s just a mach
ine. Just a piece of very advanced technology.”
“So without the machine, you can’t do anything.”
“I can do some other things that are pretty weird, like make my heart slow down, or control my blood flow, or change the way my nerves respond… That’s something I was born with. I can sort of get down inside my body in a weird way. But I can’t change shape without giving myself a dose of the vapor with The Mask. After that, I can change myself for a while, but eventually I run out of steam and have to give myself another dose. Right now I’m pretty much helpless.”
“Shame you don’t have it.”
“Yeah, a real shame.”
“Where is it? At home?”
He hesitated a moment, then nodded as a sudden wave of suspicion rose in his mind.
She’s asking a lot of questions, isn’t she? Very specific questions..
“Uh yeah, it’s at home,” he said, trying his best to keep his voice casual. “Left it there. In a drawer by my bed. Where I always keep it. Real dumb thing to do, especially since I knew I was probably walking into a dangerous situation. Any smart person would’ve brought it along. Won’t make that mistake again. Believe me.”
Oh crap, he thought. I’m such a terrible liar. Any fool could see right through me!
- - -
Myra, who was watching the whole conversation via a tiny camera hidden inside one of the light fixtures, would’ve agreed with Kevin’s self assessment. It was rare to find such a poor liar in this day and age. In fact, she thought it rather quaint and actually a little charming.
I suppose this mask thing is in his car then, she thought.
6 - Access
Myra jogged across the parking lot, fishing Kevin’s keys from her pocket as she went. The early afternoon sun was bright, and it was already starting to get pretty warm. Gnats buzzed in front of her face.
She unlocked the trunk and opened it.
There was a lot of junk in there—spare tire, a tool box, an old jacket with black grease stains all over it, some camping gear. On top of everything else, there was a clean white cloth bag with a drawstring pulled tight. It was about the size of a laundry bag, and there was something in it with corners and hard edges that bulged against the fabric.
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