The Pure: Book Three of the Oz Chronicles (6 page)

“‘Tyrone,’ Valerie protested.

“‘Sorry, sorry, I mean mentally
challenged kids that went to this shrink guy. He taught them...’ He thought
about where to go from here. ‘I’m not exactly sure what he taught them. It’s
like magic, I guess.’ He turned to Valerie. ‘What do they call that again?’

“‘HMI,’ she said. ‘Hyper Mental Imaging,
and it’s not magic. It’s science. He taught them a way to visualize and help
them cope with their disability.’

“‘Right,’ Tyrone nodded. ‘What she said.
This shrink taught them to visualize stuff, like having a good day, or that
they were smarter than they really were, you know. It worked pretty good. Too
good. They began visualizing things, and it would happen. You get it?’

“I turned to Tank and April hoping they
would chime in, but they didn’t. I shook my head.

“‘Stuff that was happening in their
minds started happening in the real world.’

“Tank shook his head. ‘You’re crazy.’

“‘What’s so crazy about that?’ Tyrone
asked.

“‘You’re saying a bunch of retarded kids
dreamed up all these monsters, and that’s that?’ Tank said sounding
incredulous. “‘You got a better explanation?’ Tyrone asked.

“‘Where do you think these monsters came
from?’ Valerie asked.

“Tank scanned our faces. Nothing he
could come up with sounded as plausible as Tyrone’s explanation. He shrugged
his shoulders. ‘Nuclear fallout.’

“‘Nuclear what?’ Tyrone asked.

“‘You know,’ Tank grunted. ‘Fallout from
a nuclear bomb.’

“‘Nuclear bomb,’ Valerie snickered.
‘What nuclear bomb?’

“Tank tossed his empty can of pears to
the ground. ‘Just because we didn’t see a nuclear bomb doesn’t mean one didn’t
go off or three or four or a thousand. They could have gone off on the other
side of the planet for all we know. The nuclear fallout, radiation poisoning,
whatever you want to call it, still could impact us. Ain’t that right, Archie?’

“‘It wasn’t a nuclear bomb,’ I said.

“‘Tank laughed. ‘You believe this crap?’

“‘It ain’t about believing,’ Tyrone
said. ‘The Storytellers are real. We saved one of them. Got him to his Keeper.
Right?’ he asked Valerie.

“‘Right,’ she answered. ‘Fought the
Takers. Kicked their asses.’

“‘Whoa!’ Tyrone screamed as he gave
Valerie a high five.

“‘Language,’ a voice said from outside
the circle. Lou stepped forward, sword at her hip, hair hidden beneath a red
bandana. ‘Your momma may not be around to kick your butt for cussing, Val, but
I am. You understand me?’

“Valerie nodded sheepishly.

“‘We’re just filling the newbies in on
the Storyteller business,’ Tyrone said.

“‘Yeah, well wrap it up. We’ve got to
get moving?’ She turned to me. ‘Your group joining us, creyshaw?’

“I narrowed my eyes and shot her a
disapproving look. ‘We’ll be fine on our own.’

“She chuckled. ‘I doubt that.’ She
turned to leave and then stopped. ‘Your friend Little Bobby has been asking for
you in the greenhouse. If he’s too much for you guys to handle, we’ll take him
with us.’

“Part of me wanted them to take him. I
seriously doubted our group’s ability to take care of him and survive. I felt
like with us it was an either-or proposition. Lou’s attitude was beginning to
grate on me so I said, ‘We can take care of our own.’

“She chuckled again. ‘That’s not what
you were saying last night.’

“I stood. ‘Things change.’

“She gave me a lingering stare. I could
sense she was trying to see what was different. Without another word, she
walked off. “Tyrone chased after her.

“Valerie picked up the discarded pear
cans. Before leaving she asked, ‘You decide which one you are yet?’

“‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

“‘Which kind of creyshaw, the warrior or
the coward?’

“I looked at Tank and April for support,
but they both looked away. Valerie waited patiently, almost pleasantly, for an
answer. I walked away without giving her one.”

***

“I entered the greenhouse and marveled
at what was not apparent to me in the dim, almost absent light of the previous
night. Not only had the plants inside this glass enclosure survived, they had
flourished. Every plant’s leaves were an almost impossible green. The blooms
were a variety of rich, vibrant colors. The world outside this building was a
dead, corrosive terrain, but in here, it was a Garden of Eden.

“April and Tank were awestruck too by
the daylight viewing of the greenhouse. I don’t think any of us ever expected
to see something this... alive again.

“Little Bobby was propped up against a
stack of fifty-pound fertilizers bags. He flashed us a goofy grin as we
approached. ‘Hey,’ he said. His voice as high-pitched and squeaky as ever. ‘I
thought you left me.’

“‘Couldn’t leave Little Bobby behind,
now could we?’ I said. “‘Not a chance,’ Tank added.

“April squatted and placed a warm hand
on his leg. ‘How are you feeling?’

“‘Better,’ Little Bobby squawked. ‘You
know what I was thinking?’

“‘What?’ she asked.

“‘I was thinking I wish I could ride a
horse again.’

“She patted his leg. ‘Someday, Bobby.
Someday.’

“‘I miss the horses,’ he said.

“Little Bobby was a simple man. He had
the mind of a child at times. He could ride a horse like he was born for it,
but he really wasn’t much good for anything else. He tried to stand again, but
could only manage to lift himself off the floor a few inches before he flopped
back down.

“‘Tired, boss man,’ he said looking at
me. ‘We gotta go now?’

“I shook my head. ‘What are we in a
hurry for?’

“‘Huh?’ he asked, missing my sarcastic
tone.

“‘Rest,’ I said. ‘We’ve got time.’

“April plopped down on the floor next to
him and leaned back against the fertilizer bags. Little Bobby leaned his head
on her shoulder.

“Tank and I exited the greenhouse. Tank
took a tentative look back at the glass enclosure. ‘Little Bobby kind of got
shorted in the brain department, didn’t he?’

“I nodded. ‘Suppose, but then again none
of use are genius material.”

“‘Seriously, he’s really dumb,’ Tank
said without an ounce of remorse or cruelty. ‘I mean he’s a dumby’s dumby.’

“I smiled despite all efforts not to.
‘That’s enough.’

“‘You know,’ Tank continued, ‘I once
asked him if he knew what two plus two was. You know what he said?’

“‘What?’ I asked.

“‘Penguin,’ Tank replied.

“I tried to hold it in, but laughter
gushed from my mouth.

“‘I’m serious,’ Tank said.

“I slapped my thigh and continued to
howl.

“‘I’m not joking,’ Tank pleaded. ‘What?’
He watched me in disbelief for a few seconds more and then he joined in on the
laughter.

“‘That can’t be true,’ I said as I
heaved.

“‘I swear,’ Tank said sighing deeply.
“Hand to God.” He held up his right hand.

“‘Okay, so he’s not that smart. You’re
not that good looking, and I’m not that tall. We’ve all got our problems.’

“I stopped laughing as I saw Lou and the
others pack up the van. Part of me felt the need to go with them. They were
much more adept at this survival stuff than my crew and me. Truth be known, the
fact that we were still alive was pure luck.

“‘Lou loaded Kimball into the van and
then turned to me. ‘Last chance,’ she said. ‘We could use you.’

“Without sounding the least bit
convincing I said, ‘We’ll be fine.’

“‘I’m sure you will,’ she said sounding
even less convincing.

“Ajax stuck his head out of the van’s
side door and grunted. He gestured with his hand and dipped back inside the
van. Lou shook her head.

“‘What?’ I asked. ‘Did he say
something?’

“‘Yeah,” she answered. ‘He did.’ She
shut the van door.

“‘What did he say?’

“‘He said your hour is up.’

“‘Wait... What?’”

SIX

“I have another patient coming in,” Dr
Graham says. “Your hour is up.”

I hear Scoop-face clear his throat and
stir. “What?” “Wide awake, now. C’mon, we don’t have much time.” “Doc... I
wasn’t finished.”

“You are for today.”

I hear the sound of a chair scraping
across a wood floor. The door to Dr. Graham’s office opens.

“He giving you any trouble, Dr. Graham?”
Chester asks.

“Not at all. We’re just a little
lethargic from the regression.”

“Doc,” Scoop-face grunts. “I have so
much more to say... I was just getting to the good part.”

“We’ll take it up next time,” Dr. Graham
says with just a hint of impatience.

“Tomorrow?” Scoop-face asks.

“Tomorrow? You’re not on the schedule
until...” There is a pause as I imagine Dr. Graham is looking through an
appointment book or PDA or blackberry, whatever is used in this time. “Looks
like three days from now.”

“Tomorrow, Doc. C’mon do an old, faceless
jackass a favor. I ain’t never asked for anything before.”

Another pause. This time he is
contemplating Scoop-face’s request. “Very well. Tomorrow, noon. I have a couple
of hours open.”

“You’re a saint, Doc,” Scoop-face says.
“A saint.”

“C’mon, Archie,” Chester says. “Let’s
go.”

The door closes.

***

I wander the yellow-lined halls after I
leave the janitor’s closet. Bones is close in tow. He talks of snarkle,
hambone, and the others as we walk. Even if they are just a nonsensical string
of words they seem to soothe his shattered psyche, and truth-be-known, I feel
better the more he brings them up. So, I let him talk with very little input
from me.

I turn Scoop-face’s session over and over
again in my mind. I picture Lou coming to his rescue in the woods, Wes chowing
down on snack cakes, Kimball wagging his tail, Valerie and Tyrone finding a
moment to play and joke despite the fact the world was falling apart around
them, and Ajax - I could see his sad and noble face staring back at me in my mind’s
eye. His steely stare is telling me something. He is disappointed in me. I’ve
let him down. More than that. I...

“Boss,” Bones barks.

I turn to him.

“You all right?”

“What?”

His right eye twitches. “You went
away... I mean you were gone, man.” He whistles. “La-la land, my friend.”

“I’m fine.” I try to capture the image
of Ajax in my mind again, but he’s gone. “Just visiting old friends,” I say
with a smile.

“Yeah,” Bones says. “Happens a lot
around here.”

“How long you say you been here?” I ask.

He chuckles. “That’s the million dollar
question, boss. Nobody knows how long they been here. That’s why they make
places like this.”

I look at him with a narrowed glare.
“Explain.”

“Time, the way we think things work...
alarm clocks, lollipops, baseball, checkers... all those things that used to
be... you know, our lives. They want us to think it’s still out there, but it
isn’t.”

“It isn’t?”

“Oh, no, man. That stuff is gone. Way
gone. There is nothing out there. There’s not even an out there out there. You
get it?”

I stare and consider his statement.
“No,” I answer. “Not at all.”

“Think about it, boss. Have you seen an
exit sign in this place?”

I think about it. He doesn’t give me
time to answer.

“Of course you haven’t,” he shrieks.
“Because there is no place to exit to. It’s all in here.” He pats the wall to
his right. “There is no out there out there. Get it? It’s all in here.” This
time he points to his head. “In here.” He pokes me in the forehead.

“Damn,” a voice booms from the other end
of the hall. Chester approaches. “The man’s first day with a GP pass since he’s
been here and you’re trying to fill his head with crazy talk. He’s got enough
insane snaking around in that head of his. He don’t need yours in there, too.”

Bones’s eyes nearly jump out of his head
at the sound of Chester’s voice. He whispers to me, “Remember who helped you
today, boss. I did.”

I nod.

“That means I get to go back with you.”

Still approaching, Chester shouts.
“Break it up, you two. Get back to your rooms.”

“Back?” I say to Bones, but Chester
thinks I’m talking to him.

“Yeah, back as in return to your rooms
now!”

“On it, Mr. Chester,” Bones says, all
the while still looking at me. “Back is the only way to go.”

“Back,” I say.

Bones turns and walks with almost a skip
in his step. “Back is the only way out of here, ain’t that right, boss man?”
The question is directed to Chester, but I know he’s talking to me.

“Ain’t no way out of here, thin man,”
Chester says as he passes Bones. He stops a few feet from me. “Back, up, down,
east, west, anyway you go all leads to one place, you understand me?” Chester
asks.

I don’t answer.

“Here,” he says. “There is no other
place in your life except here. You ain’t near as crazy as the others in this
place. You want to hold on to what you have left of your mind you remember that
one thing. Here is all there is.” He steps past me. “Your room, now.”

***

As I drift off to a restless sleep, the
dead gather at the foot of my bed. Their eyes are inert and penetrating at the
same time. A woman, her head flopping on a broken neck, reaches for me and
touches my foot over the blanket. I jerk my foot back, but it is a reflex. I am
not afraid of her. I don’t know if it’s because they’ve visited so many times
that I’ve grown used to them, or if it’s because they look different. They no
longer look angry to me. They look sad. They look like they need my help.

I throw back the covers and stand. The
dead follow my every move. I take a step toward them. A hand reaches out from under
the bed and grabs my ankle. I am back to being scared. I jump back and shuffle
across the room, ramming into the door. A loud click echoes through the room
and the door opens. The dead smile.

I wait for someone to enter, Nurse Kline
or Chester. They surely were close by. The door does not just open on its own.
They are monitoring my every move. But seconds turn into minutes, and no one
comes. The dead are inching their way closer to me. They want me to leave. I
don’t want to. If I’m caught out in the hall, I will be... I don’t know what
will happen to me, but I can’t imagine it will be good.

The dead creature that had grabbed my
ankle begins to crawl out from under my bed. He or she or it is not like the
others. It is big and... not human. It’s a huge hulking beast that is covered
in hair and slime. It’s a Taker, and the anger that was absent in the other
dead is frighteningly apparent in his tooth-filled snarl.

Suddenly, being caught in the hallway is
the least of my worries. I pull the door open and run out into the corridor.
The brightness of the flickering fluorescent lights nearly blinds me. I squint
against the glare and wait for someone to come running, to be busted for
escaping my prison, but no one comes. I am alone in the hallway.

I look back at my room. The Taker snaps
its jaws in the doorway. Going back is not an option. I run fully expecting to
be stopped by someone on the hospital staff at any moment.

I do not pay attention to the corridors
I turn down. I just run. When I started, I was following the yellow line, but
the line beneath my feet is now blue. I am not authorized to mingle with the
blue line people. I am in real trouble now.

I run until I can’t catch my breath. I
stop and pant and grunt and wallow in general misery. I don’t know how far I’ve
gone. A sharp pain throbs from underneath my rib cage. My throat is dry. I hear
a crash from behind me and decide to walk quickly to the next series of
hallways just ahead.

The lines end here. No blue, no yellow,
no red or green. Nothing. I have an option to go left or right, but both hallways
are dark, almost black. Another crash from behind me convinces me going back is
not a viable choice, and a scream from the hallway to my left makes my decision
somewhat easier. The pitch-black hallway to my right is the least of the three
evils. I slowly make my way down the hall.

A whisper floats through the dark air,
“Oz.”

I exhale through pursed lips. I am
walking into something, an ambush, a slaughter, an end to my rather confused
existence.

“Oz,” the whispering voice repeats. But
I realize its not traveling through the air. It is in my head. I hear a series
of heavy clicks. They come from all around me.

All light is gone now. I cannot see
anything, but I can feel movement all around me. I stop. It’s pointless to go
on. Something brushes against my leg and I can feel movement beneath my bare
feet. I reach for the wall to my right, but it’s not there. I reach to my left
and feel a cold, damp raised surface. It is a rock.

I hear more clicking and what sounds
like water dripping. The stuffy air of the hospital is gone. The air is cool
and damp. A sliver of light appears above me, ten feet or so. My immediate
surroundings become illuminated. I am in a hole... no, it’s a small cave. I can
see the rock wall to my left, but the right wall is out of sight. A small creek
clicks and gurgles and burps on the cave floor to my right. It disappears
underneath a wall of rocks in front of me.

There are a series of footholds leading
up to the sliver of light. I climb and only then spot the source of movement
beneath my feet. The cave floor is covered in millions of bugs, some of which
are still clinging to my feet. I frantically shake them off and climb as fast I
can.

The sliver of light is a tiny crawl
space. I cannot tell how long it is, and there is just barely enough room for
me to fit. I look back and see that the bugs are now making their way up the
cave wall. I push my way through the opening and hoped the crawl space either
gets bigger or leads to an opening I can fit through, because it is apparent I
could not go back.

I crawl on my belly, pushing myself
forward with my elbows. I can hear the bugs entering the opening of the crawl
space. Their tiny legs make horrendous scrapping noise as they make their way
toward me. I crawl faster, my back now touching the top of the crawl space. It
isn’t getting wider. It is narrowing, and the source of the light is no closer.

I flatten myself as much as I can. No
longer pushing myself forward with my elbows, my arms are extended forward, and
I’m pulling myself with my finger tips. My butt is wedged. I can no longer pull
myself forward. I feel the bugs probing my feet. A slight stinging around my
ankles as I imagine some have begun to bite.

I feel something grab my wrists. I am
dragged forward. This is not a bug… I hope. Because if it is, it is enormous. I
look and see... mud covered hands pulling me through the opening. I am pulled
with such force, the crawl space is expanding all around me. That’s when I
realize the space is made up of a sludge like clay.

I burst through the opening and fall to
the creek on the cave floor. I have made it through to the other side. I sit up
on my hands and knees. I am covered in mud. I turn to watch the bugs flow
through the opening like water coming out of a faucet, but they never appear.

I stand, anxious and breathing
irregularly. I am in an enormous chamber made of clay walls that are some forty
feet high. Bright fires are peppered throughout the cavern making the
temperature considerably hotter than on the other side of the crawl space. I estimate
the square footage of this place to be about 1,500 to 2,000 feet. It is the
closest thing to a naturally formed grand ballroom that I have ever seen.

A silhouette of a man stands in front of
the nearest fire. He is scrawny and crooked. His posture suggests a feeble old
man, but given the strength of this grip I know that appearances can be
deceiving.

“Who are you?” I ask.

He does not answer. His white eyes shine
through the

darkness. Strands of long, thick hair
hang from his head.

“You arranged for this... You wanted me
to come here.” I say. A snicker is followed by a grotesque hacking.

I move to the right trying to get a look
at his face. I see purple faces peering out of the darkest corner of the
cavern. Startled, I fixate on them.

“You are the key,” the old man says.

My attention back to him. “The key to
what?”

More hacking. “Must you ask the same
questions every time?”

Confused I say, “We’ve done this
before?”

“A thousand times. More.”