Anya pointed her finger at another man. He slowly vaporized, his boots all that remained.
Lou lifted his M-16 and sighted the girl in.
“Why are you trying to harm me?” she called.
Lou lowered his rifle.
“Why did you point that gun at me?” Anya called.
“Because you’re . . . evil!” Lou said.
“I am what I was born to be,” Anya said, her young voice carrying clearly through the heat of night.
“I didn’t know you spoke Arabic, Lou,” the man to his right said.
“I don’t.”
“Well, you damn sure were!”
Lou shook his head. The guy was nuts. He looked at the young kid. “Move!” he ordered.
She laughed at him.
“Goddamn you! I said move!”
She turned and walked slowly down the long driveway. “Am I moving correctly?” she called over her shoulder.
“Just keep moving.”
“To the lights I see in the distance?” She pointed.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Come on, Lou!” one of his people said. “Speak English!”
“I am speaking English!” Lou said.
Lou’s gone nuts! the OSS agent thought. He and that weird kid have been gibber-jabbering in Arabic.
Those cats that were left after the bloody carnage followed Anya and Pet, the agents following the cats.
In the house, the man and woman looked at each other, neither of them having the vageuest idea what was going on, or what had gone on.
“It’s over for us,” the woman said. “We can relax.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do.”
“Honey, sometimes you’re as weird as your brother.”
* * *
“I don’t like me and my men being treated like criminals, sheriff,” the crew chief said.
“Forgive me for bruising your tender feelings,” Dan said. “I want you all to see this. Now go over there and stand by those preachers. You and Louis Foster can call me names from over there. He didn’t like being hauled out here either.”
Crew chief and men walked away, all of them cussing under their breath.
Dan turned to Captain Taylor. “When I yell, Tay, you pull that handle, okay?”
“Where are you going to be, Dan?”
“Right out there,” he replied, pointing to the wire grid.
“Are you out of your mind, man! I won’t do it. No.”
“You have to do it, Tay. They . .” He waved his hand at the silver darkness, “... whatever you want to call those unknowns we’ve been fighting, won’t be satisfied with anyone else but me. I’ve been the fly in the ointment from the beginning. You know the very first person to ever lay claim to this piece of property?”
“What? No. Who cares?”
“My great great great—I don’t know how many greats—grandfather. It all came to me about a half hour ago. The story that no one in my family would ever talk about. But I heard it in bits and pieces as a boy. By eavesdropping on the adults. That ancestor of mine fought the devil, right here. Right on this land. Fought him for years-all his life, I suppose. No, Tay. It’s me they want. Tell Vonne I had to do it. Tell her why. Okay?”
“All right, Dan. Dan?” Captain Taylor held out his hand.
Dan smiled and shook it. “Listen up, now.”
“See you, boy.”
Standing some yards behind the two cops, Mille turned to Kenny and said, “Looks like I’m going to write a favorable story about cops after all.”
“I guess it’s time we both grew up,” Kenny said.
Father Denier was slowly stalking the largest of the Old Ones, pushing it, driving the creature slowly toward the terminal compound.
“I should kill you now,” the Old One said.
“You can’t,” the priest spoke low. “And you know it. Not by yourself.” He held up the large cross and the Old One averted its gruesome head and rained curses down on the priest.
The sun broke through the dawn mist, the temperature soaring.
“Move, you ugly piece of filth,” Denier said.
“Move, you wretched demon!” Lou shouted.
“Are you that anxious to die?” Anya called.
“We all have to see the elephant, you witch! One time is as good as the next.”
“Witch? I’m a witch, Pet. The fool called me a witch. Shall we play tricks, Pet?”
The cat jumped and yowled, leaping about in glee.
Anya turned around and glared at Lou. Lou’s face began melting, the flesh cooking on the bone, bubbling and popping like pork. He dropped his M-16 and screamed once, before his tongue was melted. His eyes turned to liquid and ran down his cheek bones. Lou’s clothing burst into flames as the man collapsed to the ground.
“Come!” Anya called to the stalled line of agents. “Follow us. I invite you to witness the rebirthing of the Master’s disciples. Come! ” She turned and began walking faster.
“What in blazes,” one of the OSS agents muttered. “If we cut and run, the Feds will pick us up and poke us in the slam. If we follow her, we might make it.” He looked down at what remained of Lou. “You do too know Arabic, you liar.”
Vonne walked out of the house to stand alone on the front porch, her eyes looking in the direction of the old truck terminal. She felt a sense of dread in her heart. She turned as Carl and Mike joined her.
“What’s wrong, Mother?”
“Your father is about to do something terribly brave.” She wiped her misty eyes. “But he would not want tears. He would want us to feel proud and to be strong. So that’s what we shall be.”
“Mother, what are you talking about?”
“Father Denier talked to me about an hour ago,” she said.
“Mother, Father Denier has been gone from here for hours!”
“He spoke to me. He told me the story about that piece of land where your father is meeting the devil.”
“What about it, Mother?”
“I’ll tell you. In a little while.”
“Why not now?”
“Keep your father’s image in your mind, Carl. Remember him as he is. Strong, brave, decent, and honorable.”
“Mother . . . you sound like Dad is ... dead!”
“He is about to be, son.”
12
When Louis Foster got his first glimpse of an Old One, he fell to his knees and began praying, the words pouring out of his mouth in a torrent.
Jerry Hallock and Matt Askins stood and stared in horror. Then they joined Louis in prayer.
One of the linemen puked up his sandwiches and coffee. The crew chief turned his face away from the horrible-looking things.
The OSS doctors stood with Doctor Goodson and stared in disbelief and revulsion.
Then all saw the little girl and the cat.
“We have an audience, Pet,” Anya said. “After all our years of searching and roaming, we have come home to an audience.”
The cat jumped and yowled, sensing victory was very near.
The house cats and alley cats who had followed Anya and Pet milled around for a moment, then crouched down, waiting, watching, silent.
The heat intensified. There was not a dry thread on anyone. The sun rose bubbling out of the east, out of a cloudless horizon.
Dan stood alone in the center of the metal grid. He had made his peace with God, and he was not afraid. He watched the advance of the Old Ones. He had never seen anything so horrible-looking in all his life. Father Denier was driving one of the hideous-looking things, prodding it forward as one might drive a cow.
Anya stood well away from the grid, sensing something was wrong. She looked at Dan and smiled.
Cute kid, Dan thought. Then he shoved that from his mind, replacing it with: Child of Satan. Evil.
Anya said, “You called me to come. I came.”
“End of a long journey, girl,” Dan said.
“Your end. My beg
inning,” Anya called.
“We’ll see.”
“Where is your God?” Anya shouted. “Why don’t you call on Him to come forward and save you?”
“I’m already saved, girl. And my God is here. I don’t have to see him to know that.”
The Old Ones stamped their feet and laughed. They hooted at Dan, the hooting filled with derision.
“You’re a fool!” Anya spat the words. “Your God has forsaken you, left you to die alone-for nothing! ”
Dan stood in the center of the grid and offered no reply. He cut his eyes as a shape became more distinct near the far edge of the grid. He could recognize the tattered remnants of a uniform. Nothing else about the creature was human. Bowie staggered onto the grid, snarling and snapping like a mad dog.
Dan watched Father Denier as the priest stepped onto the wire of the grid. He held the cross in his right hand.
Denier looked at the six Old Ones. “You have made your boast that the six of you could destroy me,” the priest challenged. “Very well. I am here, with my God holding my hand. Destroy me.”
The air cooled abruptly as dark clouds boiled and surged overhead. The Old Ones glared at Denier. But their powers were blocked.
Denier laughed at them. He walked closer to Dan.
“That’s not fair!” Anya called, her voice shrill. “That’s not the way the game is played. Your God is cheating! He’s breaking the rules.”
“How do you feel, Dan?” Denier asked softly.
“Pretty good,” Sheriff Dan Garrett said. “Slight headache is all.”
“Well, we’ll have to see about that when we get home,” Denier replied.
“What are you two whispering about?” Anya screamed from her position outside the grid.
“Why don’t you join us and find out?” Dan called. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid of us?”
Anya glared her hatred at the men. She stepped closer. But she was still off the grid. She pointed her finger at the men.
The dark clouds dipped closer to the earth. The girl had no powers left in her.
She looked up at the clouds and shrieked her rage. She screamed curses at the Almighty. The clouds began leaking fat drops of rain, dampening the ground.
Anya squalled her outrage as the clean drops of water touched her flesh. “Cheater, cheater, cheater!” she shouted. “You’re not playing fair.”
The temperature cooled even more, the rain picking up, lashing the earth.
Dan rubbed his temples. “I wish this headache would go away.”
“It will,” Father Denier assured him.
The smaller of the Old Ones rushed toward the men, howling in anger and frustration.
Denier held up the large cross. The Old One stopped, putting its paw-like hands in front of its eyes, shielding them from that which it hated.
“Kneel,” Father Denier spoke quietly. “Kneel before the power of God, you filth.”
“Don’t you dare! ” Anya shrieked. “You must not.”
“Kneel!” Denier said.
The Old One dropped to the grid.
Anya spat and hissed and yelled curses at the men. She stepped onto the grid. She motioned the Old Ones to join her. Pet stepped onto the grid.
Captain Taylor watched, moving his hand closer to the switch. He prayed steadily and softly.
“You’re all mouth, kid,” Dan told the girl, his words just audible over the hard rain. “You’re afraid of our God. You’re afraid of us.”
Anya bared her teeth in a snarl. She came closer.
Denise climbed the fence surrounding the compound and stood for a moment, outside the hard rain. Then she walked toward the small gathering, stepping onto the grid. She could not understand what was happening.
A VHP car slid to a halt, the trooper jumping out and running toward Captain Taylor. All communications were out; everything had to be done person to person.
“We got some sort of ... I don’t know what it is, Captain. Mummy-looking thing trapped inside a barn. What are we supposed to do with it?”
“Burn it,” Taylor ordered. “Burn the barn to the ground and then burn the ashes. Move!”
He had never taken his eyes off Dan and the priest.
“Yes, sir.” The trooper sped away.
“Come on, little girl,” Dan urged. “Destroy me. I don’t think you can. My God is more powerful than yours.”
Anya moved closer to Dan. “Touch me and you die,” she said.
Dan held out his hand. “Then here is my hand. Come on, take it. I think you’re afraid of me.”
Never taking her dark furious eyes from his, Anya stepped closer and stretched out her arm.
Just before their hands touched, Dan looked at Father Denier. “I wish I had had time to tell my wife that I love her.”
“She knows it,” the priest replied.
Anya’s hand was moving closer, the hands only inches apart.
“Going to be one hell of a bang,” Dan said.
“Interesting way of describing it,” Denier said with a smile.
Anya’s small fingers closed around Dan’s.
Dan jerked the girl to him.
“Now!” Dan shouted. “Now, now!”
13
The metal grid exploded in a shower of sparks, the wet ground actually moving as the heavy voltage fried the wire grid.
One instant the forms on the grid were there, the next instant, they were gone. The impacting current knocked every spectator to the ground. The bypass exploded under more current than it could handle. Clouds of steam rose from the fried wire and the wet, boiled earth.
The rain abruptly ceased. The dark surging clouds blew away. The sun burst forth.
The most beautiful rainbow any present could remember ever seeing arched across the sky, the colors brilliant. The rainbow lifted from the horizon and formed a colored circle.
“A halo,” Captain Taylor said, kneeling on the ground. “It’s a halo!”
The multi-colored halo grew smaller as it soared into the clear blue sky.
Then it vanished into the heavens.
18
The Reynolds’ kids walked out of the old building and began their trek homeward. They had rehearsed their story and would not deviate from it.
They would behave normally and await instructions. They knew they would be contacted. Soon.
* * *
Captain Taylor drove back to his division HQ and tossed his badge on his desk. “That’s it,” he said.
“What are you going to do in retirement, Captain?” he was asked.
“I’m going to a retreat up in the mountains,” Taylor said. “For a long time.”
“What happened over there in Valentine, Captain?”
“God won,” the captain said mysteriously. “I think.”
The thumb-sized worms continued breeding in hiding, devouring the weaker, so only the strongest survived. They ate mice and rats and bugs and dogs and snakes. No cats.
* * *
And Linda was driven home by Vonne.
15
A cat was waiting for her, sitting on the girl’s dresser. A black cat, with very cold, yellow eyes.
“Hi!” Linda said. “Where did you come from?”
All the cats in town had returned to normal, purring and playing and behaving as ... well, cats.
The cat put its paw on Linda’s left forearm. There was a slight burning sensation. The cat withdrew its paw. Linda looked down at her arm.
There was a very small mark on her arm. She looked closer. The mark was in the shape of a cat.
Linda smiled, looking at the cat on her dresser. “I think I’ll call you Pet.”
The cat smiled.
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