Lies of the Prophet

by Ike Hamill

  “Gregory had you? Did you meet him?” asked Jenko.

  “Yes,” said Carol. “I stabbed him through the heart. Didn’t take. Last I saw he was recovering.”

  “He has a habit of that,” said Jenko.

  “I don’t think he’s quite as invincible as he wants people to think,” said Lynne. “He seemed decidedly vincible there. It might have been touch-and-go for a bit.”

  “Huh,” said Jenko.

  “I don’t understand,” said Carol. “Why did he abduct you and then bring you here?”

  “She’s supposed to bring the downfall of humanity or something,” said Jenko.

  “Oh,” said Carol. “How?”

  “Who knows,” said Lynne. “In league with dark forces somehow. So this is a cave? What are you guys doing here?”

  “Carol’s dead husband told us to come to the island next door. Then we took a trip here,” said Jenko. “You want something to drink?”

  “Please.”

  “Your husband died?” Lynne asked Carol. “I’m sorry.”

  “A while ago, remember? He was dead when you came out to my house,” said Carol.

  “Oh, that’s right,” said Lynne. “Well I’m still sorry. What did you do to your ankle?”

  “We were attacked by something on the other island,” said Carol.

  Jenko returned with a bottle of water and some crackers for Lynne.

  “Let me see,” Lynne said to Carol.

  “Oh?” asked Carol.

  “Sit, and let me see your ankle. I want to see something,” said Lynne. She took a swig of water and shoved some crackers in her mouth while Carol situated herself next to Lynne and presented her ankle.

  Lynne pulled off the bandage and hunched forward over Carol’s foot—“Here?”

  “Yes. Ow!”

  “Sorry,” said Lynne.

  “What are you up to, Lynne?” asked Jenko.

  “I’ve got an idea about this,” said Lynne. She paused with another cracker a few inches from her face—“Are these okay?” she asked Jenko.

  “I ate some, and I’m fine. They could have killed you at sea if they’d wanted to,” said Jenko.

  “True enough,” said Lynne through a mouthful of dry crackers. She manipulated Carol’s bare ankle. Carol wrinkled here face in reaction and anticipation to the pain. “Anything?” Lynne asked Carol.

  “Like what?” asked Carol.

  “I don’t know, anything at all?” asked Lynne.

  Carol shook her head.

  “I know, tell me about your husband,” said Lynne.

  “Don? What about him?”

  “Anything. How did he die?”

  “I think I told you about that already. When you came out to the house?” asked Carol.

  “Oh yeah, not that. Tell me what you miss the most about him,” said Lynne.

  Carol took in a big breath and let it out through her pursed lips. She thought about the conversation she’d had with Don through Billy. “His eyes,” she said eventually, her eyes welled.

  Lynne and Carol both felt something, but they had opposite sensations. For Lynne it was a fast, bone-chilling cold, settling into her fingers. For Carol it was a gentle, soothing warmth in her ankle.

  “Oh,” sighed Carol.

  Lynne shivered, but kept her hands clamped on Carol’s leg.

  “What is that?” sighed Carol. She leaned her head back.

  Lynne exhaled a thin line of mist.

  “That’s enough. Okay now, experiment over,” said Jenko. He tugged at Lynne’s shoulder. Her hand stayed clamped on Carol’s legs. The fingers, white and blue and frozen were still locked around the ankle.

  “It’s okay,” Carol exhaled. “She can keep doing that.”

  “No, I think it’s enough. I don’t think Lynne has control over this,” said Jenko. He turned his attention to Lynne’s fingers and pulled at them. The cold made him jerk back at first, but he forced himself to work through the numbing cold. When he broke Lynne’s grip her hands came off like claws and Lynne and Carol fell backwards, away from each other.

  “That was interesting,” said Jenko. “You okay, Lynne?”

  “Yuh-yeah,” said Lynne through chattering teeth.

  “Hold tight,” said Jenko. He picked up the portable kerosene heater and moved it to the center of the room. He lit the device and then draped a blanket from one of the containers around Lynne’s shoulders. She was huddled, hugging her arms to her chest.

  “I feel great,” said Carol. “You could be a masseuse. That was amazing. My ankle feels great too.”

  “So how long have you known?” Jenko asked Lynne. He was squatting next to her as she warmed her hands near the heater.

  “I don’t know,” said Lynne. “I guess I’ve know for a while, really.”

  “Known what? What did you know?” asked Carol.

  “She’s an Ayurvedic,” said Jenko.

  “Who?” asked Lynne.

  “Oh,” said Jenko. “I thought you knew.”

  “I figured I could heal her. I mean I had the idea that I could. I don’t know what an Ayurvedic is though,” said Lynne.

  “Wow. You’re a natural then. The first was Dhanvantari, look him up sometime,” said Jenko. “Anyway, it’s an energy-transfer method of healing, Carol. Lynne just gave you part of her energy to heal your ankle. Looks like it worked, too. So you just figured it out on your own?”

  “Oh wait, that cat,” said Jenko. “That makes sense to me now. I should have seen it before.”

  “Really? I don’t think so. I think Domi had his own thing going on. I’m not so sure about him,” said Lynne.

  “I’m lost,” said Carol. “But, who cares, can we get out of here now? I’m still no closer to finding my real daughter and getting rid of that stupid Changeling thing." She got to her feet and walked around, looking at her ankle as if it were something new.

  “Yeah, maybe,” said Jenko. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s someone hanging around out there. And we’ll have to figure a way out of here.”

  “How did we get in here?” asked Lynne.

  “We all came in the same way,” said Jenko. “That hole. But they moved a rock in the way. Could be hard to move based on the angle. It’s probably wedged in there.”

  “There’s no other way out? What’s that?” Lynne pointed.

  “The toilet,” said Carol.

  “Yuck, you’re kidding,” said Lynne.

  “I wish I were,” said Carol.

  “Let’s go with the most obvious solution first,” said Jenko. “Just keep quiet for a second." He maneuvered his head into the exit hole and got his head as close to the obstruction as he could. He pulled back out and joined the two women in the center of the cave near the heater. “I don’t hear anything, and I think I should be able to move that rock, but they might still have a guard out there.”

  “Wouldn’t they have just come back in here if they knew we were here?” asked Carol.

  “Who knows,” said Jenko. “We can’t make any assumptions. Lynne, what do you remember about the people who brought you here?”

  “Nothing,” said Lynne. She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “Last thing I knew for sure, I was in a penthouse apartment in Boston. They brought me here drugged. I can kinda remember waking up briefly on the boat a couple of times, but like I said, it was just to throw up. Back in Boston there was a really tall guy, a bitchy older woman, a guy named Andrew, and Gregory himself.”

  “There were at least two people here today delivering you to the island, and I think it would have taken a few people to move that rock into place,” said Jenko. “I’m going back in that hole. One of you needs to be ready to hand me the guns.”

  “No problem,” said Carol. She collected the guns from over near the cases.

  Lynne huddled with her blanket around her shoulders and watched as Jenko and Carol began the assault. Face up, he slid down the hole. He braced his arms against the rocks of the narrow passage and gripped
the sides of the heavy stone that blocked them in. Carol knelt in between his legs, ready to hand off the guns. She gripped them around the barrels, keeping her fingers away from the triggers.

  Jenko tested the weight and found the angle where the rock wanted to pivot.

  “Ready?” he whispered to Carol.

  “Yes,” she whispered back.

  Jenko took a deep breath and then pushed at the rock. It slid for a few inches before an edge caught and then it started to turn. He slid one of his hands further under to increase his leverage and tried to keep the momentum going. When the rock settled back down it almost caught his finger. He left a little skin under the stone with his panic to reclaim all of his hand. He took another breath and started again.

  It went further this time. On the way back down, collapsing his straining arms, he managed to turn the rock a little so he wouldn’t lose all his progress.

  “You want the guns now?” whispered Carol. She’d heard him exhale.

  “Not yet,” whispered Jenko. He steeled himself for the third push. His arms were already on fire. This would be his last attempt until he could rest. He grunted, clenched his teeth and moved the stone even farther. The crack he’d opened up, between the rock and the edge of the passage, was now a few inches wide. “Coming out,” he said to Carol.

  Jenko pulled himself out of the hole and shook his head.

  “How far did you get?” asked Carol.

  “Just a few inches,” said Jenko. “It’s really heavy.”

  “We should start looking for another way out,” said Lynne.

  “I’m going to try that rock,” said Carol. She got down on her back in front of the exit and slid down head first.

  “Just pull out if you see anything,” said Jenko.

  Lynne walked the perimeter of the small cave, investigating the walls an ceiling. Jenko used the wall to stretch his arms and shoulders.

  “Have you looked behind all these cases?” asked Lynne.

  “Nope,” said Jenko. He wandered over to watch Carol’s progress with the rock.

  For several hours they took turns down in the passage, trying to move the rock. It was like a blind puzzle—unseen impediments blocked the rock and the only way to find them was to try shifting or rolling the rock until it got stuck. Carol and Jenko developed their own vocabulary to discuss their moves. Quiet about her efforts, Lynne let the other two debate the merits of different approaches. Jenko found he was only good for a couple of moves before his aching arms needed a break. Carol stayed down longer, her stamina more than made up for her strength and she was more meticulous and careful.

  A fight broke out when Jenko let the rock slip back and the crack narrowed by a half-inch. Lynne broke it up.

  Between attempts, they opened up the cases and found some pasta they could cook in a small pan over the heater. With only one plate, and one fork, they took turns eating. While they ate, they told Lynne about how they had met and come to the island.

  “So you saw her too?” asked Lynne.

  “You’ve seen your doppleganger?” asked Jenko.

  “Yeah,” said Lynne. “I saw her on a bus, just like you,” she nodded to Carol.

  “When’s the last time you had a doctor’s appointment?” asked Jenko.

  “A couple of months ago, two weeks before my birthday. Regular checkup,” said Lynne.

  “Blood work, everything?” asked Jenko.

  “Yeah, why?” asked Lynne.

  “Nothing,” said Jenko. “Old wive’s tale—you see your doppleganger and you’re supposed to be dead within a week. Never heard of it coming true anyway.”

  “That’s comforting,” said Lynne.

  “Probably something different anyway,” said Carol. “You guys have a word for everything, but I have to believe that some of these things have perfectly normal explanations. Not everything is paranormal and occult and everything.”

  “Just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t mean it can’t kill you,” said Jenko.

  “Hey,” said Lynne. “You just said it was an old wive’s tale. Now it will kill me?”

  “Not what I meant,” said Jenko.

  “I just want to go back to normal. I want to go back to before any of this shit, before I took that job, before everything,” said Lynne. “I want to have my normal life back.”

  “You do?” asked Carol. “I’ve lost everything—my husband, my house, my real daughter, my fake, evil daughter, probably lost my job. None of that stuff is coming back any time soon. Don’t tell me about normal.”

  “Sorry,” said Lynne. “I know this has been rotten for everybody.”

  “Just a normal day at the office for me,” said Jenko. “I’ve been living in this crazy world for years.”

  Jenko set the plate down on the floor and wiped his mouth with the back of his arm — “I’m going in again.”

  “Try left and up,” said Carol.

  “I thought we couldn’t make it past the nudge that way?” asked Jenko.

  “Yeah, but I have an idea,” said Carol. “You know how it feels smaller if you rotate it back towards you? Well try to push it up and left while rotating it back towards you. Maybe it will fit in the crease that way.”

  “Huh,” said Jenko. He lowered himself to the floor and slid down into place. A few seconds later, he popped back out of the hole—“I think that’s it. Much bigger crack now. We still need to work it, but I think that’s what we needed.”

  “That’s awesome! Excellent!” said Carol. She gave Jenko a high-five.

  “Any sign of the guys out there?” asked Lynne.

  “Not yet,” said Jenko.

  Carol disappeared into the hole to check the progress.

  “I’m going to keep my expectations low then,” said Lynne.

  “I think I can fit now,” she said. “How about I slip through and move the rock the rest of the way? That way you can fit through.”

  “They could be out there, just waiting,” said Jenko.

  “Why wouldn’t they have just stopped us at any point before now?” asked Carol. “They could have just put their foot in front of the rock or rolled it back into place. Why would they be out there observing?”

  “To break my spirit,” said Lynne.

  “Definitely,” said Jenko. “That would be one good reason. If you block someone from trying to escape, you only make them more manic. If you let them think they’ve come close and then show them that they hadn’t done anything, that takes a person’s legs out much more effectively. It turns hope against itself.”

  “Oh,” said Carol.

  “Or they might not have noticed the rock moving if they’re up on the hill. Could be they didn’t see it. But a person, that they would see right away,” said Jenko.

  “So what, we stay in here forever in case they happen to be waiting?” asked Carol.

  “Nope,” said Jenko. “We assume the worst—they’re still there, and they just waiting for Lynne to come out. But when she does, she’s armed and ready to fight.”

  “Why wouldn’t the worst be that they know we’re in here too and they’ve guessed that we’ve given Lynne a gun?” asked Carol.

  “You’re right, that is the worst-worst, but that scenario is so bad it’s not even worth thinking about. If they know that much, then we don’t have any chance at all. But as much as I hate to say it, Lynne should go out. She’s the only one we have a reason to believe they won’t hurt.”

  “Why not? They hurt me before,” said Lynne.

  “Hurt’s a bad word. I meant kill. They’ve demonstrated no desire to kill you. They would have done it at sea, not set you up with everything you need to survive.”

  “Fine,” Lynne sighed. “So I’m going out with a gun then? If I’m alone out there, I move the rock. If I’m not, then I start shooting?”

  “Only shoot if they see you,” said Jenko. “And let’s not sugar-coat this—I’m completely sure there’s someone out there waiting for you.”

  “Great,�
� said Lynne. “That makes me feel great.”

  “I don’t want you to be surprised,” said Jenko. “I want you to be alert.”

  “Fine,” said Lynne. “Guns,” she said and held out her hands.

  “Take this one,” said Jenko. He put a heavy pistol in her hand. “This is the Glock twenty-three. It’s got a fifteen round magazine. Here’s the safety; this is how you disengage. It’s a semi-auto. Good?”

  “Hope so,” said Lynne. She re-checked the safety and tucked the gun into her front pocket. The blanket made it easier to slide through the passage—she arranged it on the rocky tunnel before slipping across it on her back. It was brighter outside. Her eyes had to adjust for a second before she could make anything out.

  Jenko had mapped out the area for her briefly while they ate, so she had some idea of what to expect. She pulled herself past the rock—it was moved just enough to squeeze by—and got her feet on the ground next to a big puddle. She moved around the edge of the rocks a little to see farther up the slope. It still looked like she was alone, so she turned back to the rock so she could move it in case she needed help.

  It just needed to turn a little. Once she rotated it, the rock rolled easily away from the passage. Lynne knelt and made a hissing noise up the passage. That was their code for all clear. Jenko’s face appeared immediately. He came out in a low crouch with his gun pointed up, ready for action. Carol came next. She clutched the taser.

  “We’re like Charlie’s Angels,” said Lynne.

  Jenko put his finger to his lips and motioned for the women to stay where they were. He eased around the corner and studied the rocks sloping up to the top of the hill.

  When he returned, he motioned Lynne and Carol to come in very close—“They’re up there, and I think they know we’re coming,” he whispered.

  “You saw them?” Lynne asked, just as quiet.

  Jenko shook his head—“No, they’re well-hidden, but they’re there. Trust me,” he whispered. “I’m going to run up very aggressively and draw their attention. When you hear me yell, you come up too. If you don’t hear me, then hold back.”

  “If they’re expecting us, then how are you going to draw them from the hole?”

  “I’m going to shoot them,” whispered Jenko. “Ready?”