Tales of Chills and Thrills: The Mystery Thriller Horror Box Set (7 Mystery Thriller Horror Novels) (56 page)

“They’re not behind us,” Samuel said.

“They will be. Come on.”

Mara sprinted again, this time through the
field toward a black hole on the other side. As Samuel drew closer, he realized
they were heading for the gaping maw of a cave embedded in the deep rock of a
mountain. The opening appeared as a solid wall of jet-black fabric.

“We’re going in there?” he asked.

She ignored his question and slowed to a
jog. As she approached the entrance to the cave, the wheat tapered off until
there was nothing but undisturbed dirt. Samuel felt the muscles in his
body tighten, and he had to fight to keep his bladder under control.

“It feels evil,” he said.

“It probably is,” Mara said. “But it’s
our last chance to escape the reversion. And the wolves.”

As if on cue, Samuel heard another round
of howling. He looked over a shoulder and saw the first shapes shuffling from
the tree line into the field. He recognized the gait and knew the horde was
back on their trail.

Mara looked at him and took his hand
again. She looked at the cave and back to the undead.

“It’s your call. I can’t make you.”

Samuel nodded and followed her through
the opening, into darkness that penetrated him to the core.

***

“I could use the horde to draw him out,”
Major said.

The undead. They avoid that place.

“I know. Which is why we must get him to
give up. You and your pack are not great enough in number to pursue them
through the labyrinth.”

How did the girl know about it?

Major felt an accusation in the unspoken
question.

“They have been running for their lives,
to the east. The reversion has pushed them there.”

The wolf licked his teeth and circled
back around to survey the hunters. The old man was right.

You have bait he will take?

“I have many tools at my disposal,” Major
said as a smile spread across his face. “I don’t know if he’ll leave the
girl, but he will be disoriented, at the very least.”

Go. I will wait for you. But realize
time here is short, and the reversion slows for nothing. I will not suffer
another cycle by failing Him.

Major nodded and stepped past a throng of
the undead as they approached the cave. He tried not to look at their faces as
he contemplated a strategy for luring Samuel out. And he needed enough time to
find the talisman before the alpha male tore the flesh from his bones.

He couldn’t remember when he struck a
deal with the alpha male because communicating with the wolf was always
tedious. The animal spoke with a limited vocabulary and used its few words in
the wrong context. Major remembered enough to know the alpha was doomed to
another reversion without capturing Samuel, and Major couldn’t escape without
the talisman. The wolf would get Samuel’s flesh if Major received the talisman.

***

What appeared to be a black hole from the
outside softened within. Ancient stalactites and stalagmites bit into the
cavernous space. The old rock glowed with a dull, heavy cast of grey light, as
if it came from the final throes of a dying sun. The floor of the cave was covered
with a fine powder, dry and unlike the heavy, moist soil of the forest.
Passages extended in all directions, heading into the depths of the mountain.

Several of the walls wept. Trickling
streams of water followed grooves etched in the stone over eons, the droplets
crashing into puddles on the ground like cannon fire echoing throughout the
space.

Mara stopped and looked at Samuel as they
stood shoulder to shoulder, their backs to the entrance. She looked into his
face, shuddering at the pale complexion brought on by the inner glow of the
cave. When she turned to look at the cave entrance, she saw the darkness of the
locality brought by the reversion, making it seem like a heavy curtain had been
drawn across the last remnants of their world.

Samuel’s eyes met Mara’s. He let his
breathing slow while surveying the inside of the cave. The glow of light
produced phantom shadows that slithered over the pockmarked stone. He felt the
cold, moist, subterranean air on his face and detected the faint aroma of wet
limestone. The open passages reached out to Samuel like bony fingers
threatening to pull him inside the mountain.

“Now what?” he asked.

Mara looked back to the entrance. She
jogged to an outcrop of rock against the north wall of the cave, Samuel running
behind her. She placed her back against the cool wall and then stood upright
when it chilled her to the core.

“We can hide,” she said.

“From who? For how long? I don’t see
how—”

Mara cut him off by placing her index
finger to his lips.

“The horde hates this place, and I don’t
know why. I remember seeing them standing out front before, a long time ago,
when I first got here. Kole and I were hiding in the trees and we saw Major
coming out. But the undead, they weren’t in here.”

“What about the wolves?” Samuel asked.

“I don’t know.”

The air within the chamber changed as a
slight breeze raised gooseflesh on their arms.

“What’s the point?” The question came
from the cave’s entrance, echoing off the walls until reaching their ears in a
concurrent reverberation. “You’re only delaying the inevitable,” Major said,
his words drawing nearer.

“C’mon,” Mara whispered.

She grabbed Samuel’s hand and sprinted
around the side of the outcrop. The two rushed headlong into the nearest
tributary and raced through the kinked maze of stone until it ended in a solid
wall of rock. Mara turned and ran back toward the main cavern, towing Samuel by
the arm. She ducked into another passage, only to end up at another dead end.

“Go ahead and try them all. I’ll wait.
But the wolves, eh, not so sure about their level of patience. And the undead,
not sure if they even understand the idea any longer.” Major’s voice came
through the air with clarity. He was getting closer.

“What do you want?” Samuel asked as he
stepped around Mara to face the entrance to the cave.

Major appeared from behind an outcrop.
His hair appeared more silvery than before. He walked with a lurch, and the
headband slipped lower on his forehead, making his eyes forlorn.

“There’s a lot about this place that you
don’t know, son.”

“So you’re my father now, my caretaker,
is that it?”

Major chuckled and waved a hand in the
air. “You and the girl come out here so we can talk like human beings,” Major
said. “Ain’t like I can do that with the undead or the pack now, can I?”

Mara shook her head and tried to pull
Samuel toward a third unexplored passage deep under the mountain. He bit his
bottom lip and stepped in front of her, pulling his hand from hers.

“Okay.”

“I’m really a business man, Samuel. Once
you understand that, I think you’ll find what I have to offer will be a fair
trade, one that benefits both parties involved.”

“Don’t trust him, Samuel. He’s devious
and manipulating. He belongs here. He deserves to be eaten by that cloud,
swallowed by the reversion.”

“Mara, dear, such ugly words from a
tragic beauty.”

“You say you have business with me,”
Samuel said. “Let’s hear it.”

“I had to bleed for you, Samuel. I took
one for the team back there in the woods when the wolves were attacking. Me and
the alpha male, we got our own little side deal contingent on getting you here,
at this point in the reversion. I don’t understand a lot of the bullshit that
goes down in these dying worlds but I do know I had to get you here, now, to
save my own ass. But I might be able to save yours too.”

“Where’s Kole?” Mara asked.

“The horde got him,” Major said. “They
were so busy with him they let me go on by.”

Mara looked at Samuel, neither of them
swallowing the lie.

Samuel scoffed and wiped the back of his
hand across his forehead. “You have thirty more seconds before we run headlong
into the mountain. If the reversion is coming, we’ll go on our own terms, with
each other. Judging by the ghouls that didn’t follow you in here, and the limp
you got going on, I don’t think you’re in a position to chase us down. What do
you want, old man?”

“Fine. I’ve made many deals in my time,
and I’ve always believed a certain level of civility helped to ease the
negotiations.”

“I never said we were negotiating. You’re
down to twenty seconds.”

Major stepped forward, distributing his
weight on both legs. He looked over a shoulder at the entrance to the cave,
where dark coats of fur had begun to pace at the threshold.

“They’re scared of it. Won’t come in.
Yet. The wolves and ghouls will wait, but I won’t. I need to slip again, and
you have the talisman to do it. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t
matter—you’re going to slip with me. I’ve done it before, slipping with someone
else. It’s risky, sure, but no more risky than remaining here in this dying
place. And the girl, well, it would be good business to leave her for the
wolves. She’s flickering out, one way or another.”

Mara shivered and reached for Samuel’s
hand.

“I don’t even know if I can slip with
another. And if I did, why would I take you? I can take Mara with me.”

Major laughed. His voice echoed
throughout the cavern and brought a yelp from one of the pack that strayed too
close to the entrance.

“And how are you going to do that,
Samuel? Tell me. Exactly how are you going to slip into another locality, let
alone find a way to take her with you? You may have the talisman, but I have
the know-how,” Major said, tapping the side of his head with his index finger.
“You got the car, but I got your keys.” A dark, greasy smile spread across
Major’s face.

“You’re an evil son of a bitch,” Samuel
said.

“We don’t have time for empty insults,
young man. You get the knowledge of the slip in return for my ticket and the
girl. Take it or leave it.”

Mara glared at Major.

“How do I know you really know how to use
the talisman to slip this locality? How can I be sure you’re not tricking me?”

“You don’t,” Major said, fighting
laughter. “You can’t be sure. When do you ever get certainty in life? Thought
you’d at least wised up to that in your time here.”

Samuel turned and tucked his chin to his
chest. He used the back of his hand to caress the side of Mara’s face. She
closed her eyes and pulled his hand closer with her own.

“Can you trust me?” he whispered.

Mara nodded without speaking.

“We do it on my terms,” Samuel said,
spinning to address Major.

“If we don’t get going soon, there aren’t
going to be terms to follow.”

Samuel took a deep breath and nodded at
Major.

“First thing you need to do is stand with
your arms outstretched,” Major said.

Samuel followed the old man’s
instructions. He walked to the center of the open cavern while Mara remained
with her back to the limestone.

“Good. Now close your eyes and visualize
another place. Think white, sandy beaches and palm trees. Any locality without
a fucking cloud would be perfect.”

Samuel closed his eyes, and his face
wrinkled as if he were devouring lemons. “I can’t. My mind is racing. I can’t
think.”

Major stepped closer and spoke under his
breath, so only Samuel could hear. “If you can’t do this, big man, that little
tart of yours is going to become a meal for the pack. And you and I won’t be
far behind. Close your eyes and try again.”

Samuel clenched his fists and brought
them down to his waist before stopping and letting them fall against the sides
of his legs. He concentrated, trying to clear his head of the distractions in
the cave and the desperation of his situation. The air surrounding him
lightened, and he felt a faint breeze blow across his face.

“Don’t open your eyes,” Major said, as if
reading his mind. “That’ll break the connection. Keep going.”

Samuel forced his mind clear again, and
this time a pinhole of light appeared. He watched it grow behind his eyelids
and dart back and forth like a chaser in his vision. Samuel could see the edges
becoming fuzzy and rolling back from the center, like sand pulled out by the
tide. He lost sensation in his limbs and could no longer tell if he was
standing or lying in the limestone dust on the floor of the cave. Major’s voice
cut through, as if the old man were inside his head.

“You got one, boy. You grabbed onto
another locality. Now let it open up and make sure it’s not all brimstone, lake
of fire, or any of that other biblical bullshit that keeps Christians in the
pews every week.”

Samuel blinked within his vision without
opening or closing his eyelids. He watched the center spread until the fuzzy
border pushed out to his peripheral vision. Samuel had to remind himself to
breathe. He stood on the shore of a narrow, long lake. The water sat like a
sheet of ice, reflecting the towering mass of earth above it as if another
mountain existed inside the lake. Tall pine trees bordered water that cut its
way through a high mountain pass. Patches of snow clung to the ground in places
hidden by shade. He saw the wind push the pine trees, nudging them into each
other with a gentle shake. Samuel couldn’t hear a sound and he was about to
tell Major he saw no sign of life when a dark dash pinned to a deep blue sky
came across his field of vision and stopped at the top of the tallest pine. He
watched the bird spread its wings and take flight in the opposite direction,
and Samuel was able to identify it as a hawk.

“Is it alive?” Major asked within his
head.

“What?”

“The locality. Is there a cloud? Is a
reversion coming?”

Samuel went back to his vision, searching
the landscape with all of his senses, even ones he did not realize he had.

“Seems okay.”