"Quite a lot," he chuckled, "but for now you'll just have to trust me."
As they exited the house and closed the door behind them, Geoff realized that he believed the boy. Something felt different; Eric stood straighter, more confident.
"She's not alone in there, is she?" Geoff questioned.
The boy smiled and walked down the steps. Geoff followed, turning only once as they stepped into the street. This house was the only one that remained unchanged.
"Kid, I have a feeling you're full of surprises."
***
The darkness swallowed them whole. If not for the random fires burning in the night, they'd be forced to walk the streets blindly.
That's not what the Skryel wanted.
It reveled in seeing them cower from the shadows; laughed each time they jumped at the howling wind.
Each house was another passage into the nightmare realms beyond the edge of the universe, and each one was made unique by what awaited them just over the threshold. They stayed as far away from the houses as possible, sticking to the middle of the street, trapped on a solitary path to their eventual damnation.
Eric felt it watching from every blackened window frame and knew that one wrong move could be the end of them.
It was all too familiar.
"Why is it playing with us?" Geoff asked. "I mean, if it wants us dead, why wouldn't it just drop one of these houses on top of us and call it a day?"
"If it kills you, it loses a foothold into our world until it can find another doorway. All this is for show; it needs to prove what it's capable of... needs to scare you into doing its bidding."
"Not going to happen," Geoff promised. "I've worked for some shitty bosses in my time, but this takes the cake."
"You'd be used up and spit out as soon as it gets what it wants. It's loyal only to itself."
"All these worlds, all these realities we've seen... do you mean to tell me that in all of them, the Skryel found what it needed? Someone was actually stupid enough to listen to that thing and give it what it wanted?"
"Yes. It will start by killing your friends and family. Make you fear it. Once it has taken everything away, a promise of immortality or power beyond your wildest dreams doesn't seem so bad, does it? It's like making a deal with the Devil. You're always going to lose."
A distant scream broke the unnatural calm, emanating from deep within one of the nearby houses. Its windows glowed with muted, green light, growing brighter until being extinguished. The front door of another burst open with enough force to tear it from its hinges, but there was nothing there to have caused the display.
All along the street, the houses were growing restless. Voices whispered from their ruined halls; lights flickered and dimmed; gusts of wet, moldy air exploded from their windows and doors, smelling of hidden catacombs and forgotten graves. The tattered remains of curtains fluttered in the breeze like ghosts and doors crashed open and closed like a cannonade.
"This thing takes its job a little too seriously," Geoff said.
"This is just the beginning," Eric replied. "It's just getting warmed up."
"Do you think, just maybe, you could give me some good news for once?"
"You're still alive."
"Fantastic!"
Another door burst open on their left, making Geoff stop in his tracks. The ghostly shapes of several people emerged from the darkened building and ran down the front steps and into the street. He recognized them immediately... recognized himself.
"Oh, no," he whined. "That's us. Me and Dink. Romeo, Beth... what's going on here?"
It was like watching a recording of his own life playing on an old VHS tape. Grainy, out of focus. The apparition of Trina ran past him in the street and dove into the grass where it disappeared. For a split second, he saw the blurry shape of their campsite and the silhouettes of his and Romeo's vehicles parked nearby.
"How is that possible? How can I be seeing this?"
"Somewhere, it's still happening. Your friends are still there, experiencing everything for the first time."
"You mean they just die... over and over again?"
"Who knows? Maybe what you just saw was the end of it. Maybe you all hopped in your cars and went home. Not every reality is the same. Every outcome could be slightly different. That's just how the multiverse works."
"So, in theory, there could be a million versions of us out there right now. Maybe Stacy never saw that damn show, and instead of coming to the house, we went out to dinner. Dink and Romeo could be shooting pool. Everyone could still be alive."
"Sure, but they're not the same people you know. They look the same and talk the same, but they aren't your friends. They're the other Geoff's friends... the version of you that exists in that world." Geoff was barely paying attention, trying to take it all in. "Don't even think about it," Eric warned. "I know what's going through your head because I've had the same thoughts. Your friends are dead, Geoff. I'm sorry, but that's how it is and that's how it will always be. You can't go back, you can't make yourself part of something if you don't belong."
"Okay, enough," Geoff warned. "I don't need the speech. I get it. They're dead and there's not a damn thing I can do about it."
Harsh, raspy laughter echoed from one of the nearby houses.
Someone, or some thing, was listening to their conversation. It didn't take much to figure out what.
"That's right," Geoff shouted. "Yuk it up, you son of a bitch. I hope you're enjoying yourself."
"Oh, I am," a voice replied, sounding like steam escaping from a boiling teapot. "Your rationalizations, your verbal masturbation, your misguided belief that you can wake up in a warm bed and pretend this never happened. Is that what you want, Geoff? You want to make it all go away?"
"Don't listen," Eric said. "It's scared."
"Scared?" the voice bellowed. "What do I have to fear, Traveler? You can send me away, but I just keep coming back. It's not as easy as the Guardian said it would be. And where is he, anyway? Hiding with his dick between his legs? He let your friends die. He let you die. Don't you understand that you've been on the losing team since the beginning?"
"I'm still here," Eric yelled. "My world is still here. You failed."
"I wouldn't consider it a failure," the voice replied. One of the houses shook and collapsed to the ground in a cloud of dust. A smoky, black shape rose from the rubble and entered another house on the opposite side of the street. "How have things been going for you since we last had a nice little chat? Your home is gone. You have nothing. Your family is here with me in the void. Your mom says 'hi.'"
"Fuck you," Eric spat.
"How about you, Geoff? Are you enjoying this tour of the multiverse? You have Eric to thank for that. Who does he think he is dragging you into this?"
"You're the one that did this. You killed my friends."
"But now they have a purpose, don't you see? What's your purpose? Why are you still here? Still fighting? You're letting a little boy lead you around like a puppy on the leash. Do you think you have a chance to stop what's coming? You think that boy can do this alone?"
"He isn't alone. He has me."
The Skryel laughed as it jumped from one house to another, leaving behind another pile of smoking rubble in its wake. "He has you. And what are you going to do exactly? I can show you the wonders of creation, give you power the likes of which no human has ever experienced. Why would you settle for anything less? You want your friends back, just say the word. You want to see the future or the past, I'm your guy. You can be a god, Geoff. The Traveler doesn't want you to know the truth."
"Oh? What truth is that?"
"That he needs you more than you need him. He's only holding you back, same as he did to his friends. He watched them drop one after another, hiding behind that disgraced Guardian in human skin. You can become something so much greater. You can sit at my side, share the throne, become all-knowing and all-powerful. Where else are you going to find a better offer?"
"You'll bring my friends back?" Geoff asked. "You'll save Stacy?"
"Geoff, don't..." Eric begged.
"Of course," the voice hissed. "Tell me where she is and I'll have her stand at your side to witness our triumph."
Eric grabbed Geoff's arm, but he pulled away and created distance between them.
"Then show me," Geoff shouted. "Bring her to me. The old Stacy."
"We have a deal?"
"I want to see her first. I want to know she's going to be okay."
"I promise she'll be everything you want her to be. All you have to do is accept my offer."
Three houses down, Geoff saw thick tendrils of black smoke form into searching fingers. The house erupted in beautiful white light, each window a gleaming, welcoming doorway into the Skryel's embrace and the promise of a new life.
"Bring her to me," Geoff yelled.
"I'm losing my patience," the Skryel thundered. "You're not going to get another offer, so stop playing your silly games."
"It doesn't know where she is," Eric said.
"Shut up!" the monster shrieked.
"It doesn't know because it can't see her. She's protected, Geoff."
"Protected? You think she's safe from me? I will kill her right now! I'll drag her body through the street and make you watch as I tear her apart."
"Then do it!" Eric screamed. "Show us how strong you are. You can't and you know it."
The thunderous scream that followed tore the house in half, spilling white light into the blackness. Part of the street buckled and caved in with a roar as the inky mass took flight and hovered above the remains of Elmview. Geoff covered his eyes as the light grew brighter and the house shook itself apart. The ground quaked beneath their feet as other buildings collapsed around them.
"What's happening?" Geoff wailed.
"It's running!"
He felt Eric grab his hand and squeeze as the world exploded.
The house disintegrated in white light and spread in a fast-moving wave of energy. The other houses toppled from their foundations and were carried away piece by piece, tumbling down the street as if being caught in the world's strongest tornado. Geoff felt intense heat and heard debris whistling over his head, but nothing touched him. A screeching gale combed the street, pulling dead trees from the ground by their roots and flinging them aside like children's toys. Pieces of the concrete sidewalk were lifted up and torn away, pulled into the air as if weightless. After an eternity, the wind settled and the cacophonous roar dwindled to faint rumblings.
Eric let go of Geoff's hand and collapsed, rolling onto his back and staring into a sky that was clogged with dust and dirt. Geoff panted harshly, choking on the air and brushing grime from his sweaty face. He rubbed his eyes and stared across the barren landscape, now drenched in muddy, crimson light. He felt like he'd been transported to the surface of Mars.
"Did you do that?" he asked Eric. "Did you protect us somehow?"
The boy nodded and shook dust from his hair. "I don't know how, but it worked. It's like drawing a picture in my mind. I saw us, surrounded by a ball of light, and when I opened my eyes, it was there."
Geoff stood and patted his arms and legs, making sure he was still in one piece. He spun in a slow circle, mouth agape, as he saw what the Skryel had left behind. All that remained of Elmview was a grid of empty streets. The ground had been scoured clean; tons of debris had been washed away and piled around the entire town in a circular, thirty-foot, impenetrable wall. Lightning forked across the alien sky and struck the blasted earth as ash rained down around them.
In the distance, a solitary house stood beneath the red sky; the house where they'd left Stacy.
"Thank God," Geoff sighed. "She's okay."
"I told you she wasn't alone."
"Neither are we."
Geoff pointed at the cracked, steaming hillside and felt his knees tremble.
The Victorian house stood untouched. Its windows blazed with light; the front door stood open awaiting guests.
"You weren't really going to take the deal, were you?" Eric asked.
"No," Geoff said. "I just wanted to see what would happen."
"Satisfied?"
"It was okay. I expected a little more."
Eric surprised himself by laughing. In the face of what would surely be their death, not all was lost.
Thunder followed them across the broken town.
The house looked on as the Skryel prepared for their arrival.
Chapter 12
As soon as the Skryel ascended to its house on the hill, the town grew eerily calm.
Geoff couldn't help thinking about the old footage he'd seen of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb explosion. What was left of Elmview looked strikingly similar. The towering wall of smoking debris surrounding the town shifted and groaned like a slumbering giant. Geoff wanted nothing more than to leave this nightmare - tell Eric to snap his fingers and get them out of here - but Stacy was still waiting for them, and he wouldn't leave knowing there was still a chance to save her.
Eric was also in deep thought, muttering to himself and sneaking glances at the house standing sentinel above them. If he had some great plan to end this, he wasn't sharing.
"Are you okay?" Geoff asked.
Eric thought about it before replying. "I think so. I don't know. I can't stop thinking about Danny and all that happened to us last time. All the people running and screaming in the streets; all the death and destruction. Somehow this is worse. I'm not fighting for my home anymore because it's already gone."
"But there's so much more than can be lost..."
"Of course there is," Eric replied angrily. "If I didn't know that, I wouldn't be here. You weren't even alive when this started. You didn't see what we went through. A bunch of kids fighting a war we didn't understand. You can't just show up now and be the fucking hero, Geoff. Say a few meaningful words, walk off into the sunset with your girl on your arm. It doesn't work that way."
"I don't want to be a hero," Geoff said. "I'm just as scared as you. I want to go home, watch TV, sit on the couch with a bag of chips, and listen to Stacy nag at me about getting a job. I'm a normal guy, not some cosmic crime fighter. You think I'm enjoying this? Or that it's easy for me? You think I want to watch my girlfriend lose her mind every time we jump into another nightmare? It's taking everything I have - every last bit of my will - to keep putting one foot in front of the other, when all I want is to run back to the house and spend my final moments with the only person I've ever loved. I never want to hear about the Skryel again; never want to see that house or shoot lightning bolts from my fucking hand. I want to be normal and boring. I want to argue about paying my bills on time or Stacy leaving wet socks on the carpet. That's my life... not this."
"It's your life now," Eric responded. "Just as much as it's mine. You can go back, but you're never really going back. It's never going to stop until the Shadowking is dead. Even then, how can we forget what has happened? There's no such thing as normal after seeing what we've seen, or doing the things we've done. You're never going to want to watch another scary movie. You'll always be looking over your shoulder, wondering if the footsteps you heard were real. You'll sleep with the lights on, afraid that something is watching you from the corner of the room."
"You can go back, Eric. You may have died, but so did everyone else who knew about you in the first place. Danny is the only living person who would remember you, and I doubt he'd be upset if you showed up on his doorstep one day. He lost everything too."
Tears welled up in Eric's eyes as he absently wiped them away with the back of his hand.
Could I go back? he thought. Would Danny ever want to see me again?
"It's too risky," he said. "Danny wouldn't even remember me now."
"You said he was your best friend. Of course, he'd remember you. Do you really think he forgot what happened? Like he just moved on, got a job, a wife, had a few kids?"
"I hope that's exactly what happened."
&nb
sp; "And what do you think goes through his mind every time someone asks him where he's from? Where he grew up? Can he talk about Elmview without thinking of you and your other friends? I don't think so."
"It doesn't matter. We have bigger problems, and we're not going to solve them by standing here."
"Why do you punish yourself?" Geoff asked, stopping in the middle of the street and blocking Eric's way.
"I deserve to be punished," he shouted. "I failed them, all of them."
"You gave your life to save Danny... to save everything. How is that a failure? It wasn't your job to save everyone, Eric. No one can do that. You did what you could, and because of that, our world still exists. Billions of people are living their lives because of something you and your friends did. Maybe you don't see it that way, but it's the truth. I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for you. I'm not going to lie and tell you that this has been fun, but I'm still breathing, and that's worth something."
Eric nodded.
"Who's at the house, Eric? Who's there with Stacy? The old man? The Guardian?"
"Yes," he whispered. "He's not strong enough to fight, but he can still keep Stacy safe until this over. He can still get her home if we don't survive."
"I'm not going back until that thing is dead and gone."
"Killing it isn't an option. All we can do is buy time and hope the Guardian is strong enough to help us in the final battle. It's gotten closer and closer to finding a doorway that will do its bidding, and when it does..."
"No," Geoff interrupted. "We'll stop it before that happens. There has to be a way, and we'll find it."
"We're running out of time, so if you find a solution, let me know, okay?"
"Was that a joke? Are you joking right now?" Eric smirked and brushed Geoff aside. "You have some sense of humor, kid."
Geoff followed.
Ever closer to their final destination.
***
Standing at the base of the hill and staring up at that cursed house was like confronting every fear Geoff had ever had. After everything that had happened, being this close was the one thing that nearly made him turn and run. Evil emanated from its crumbling walls like a sickness, pulsing with fever, festering with infection. To enter would be to open the very gates of Hell. The air weighed on him, thick and heavy, smelling of sulfur and dank catacombs, of forgotten crypts, of graves teeming with maggots and putrefying flesh.
The Traveler (The Great Rift Book 2) Page 18