Nightmare sky, p.10
Nightmare Sky, page 10
“A Klingon.” Caleb’s tears came fast and free now. His chest heaved and pulsed. Grief, terror, exhaustion all came to a head. “Jack. I’ve missed you so much, you can’t possibly know. But what is all this? You killed our parents; you killed those people.”
“I needed them to perform the ritual. It’s the only way I could be allowed to return, but I couldn’t keep them alive. Our parents were weak. Unconcerned with the world beyond the tip of their nose. Oblivious to the wonder around them. Why do you act sad? You hated them.”
“No. No, I didn’t hate them. I just wanted them…I just wanted them to love me. They made me feel like I was flawed, broken.” Cal moved in a circle around the altar, trying to keep his brother at a distance. His foot bumped something hard and metal on the ground. He wasn’t sure what he’d touched but the weight of it felt like it could be useful as a weapon. He quickly slid it into his pocket.
“The others were collateral damage. Broken minds, broken hearts given over to a cult. This is power Caleb. This is evolution. This is The One Who Rides the Comet. And he’s waiting for us.”
“Waiting for us?”
“I want you to come with me Cal, to see all that I’ve seen. To become something more. To be improved. Just take my hand and we can get away from this world of pain, ugliness, and loneliness.”
The temptation of the offer was nearly impossible for Caleb to resist. As surreal as this all was, his brother was standing here offering him the universe. How could he say no? But something gave him pause.
“I don’t need to be improved, Jack. You didn’t need to be improved. I was happy with the way things were.”
Jack twitched and let out a grunt. “Cal. Don’t be stupid. This is what we wanted. I came back for you. I bargained with a God to save you.”
Taking a step toward the corn, staring into his brother’s black eyes, Caleb shook his head. “I didn’t need to be saved, Jack. I just needed my baby brother back. I’m sorry. I can’t.”
Caleb was moving before he realized it, sprinting through the corn unsure which direction he was headed. The stalks scraped against his bare chest. The tight sweatpants strained against his legs. The snapping of stalks told him Jack was coming. Caleb reached into his pocket preparing himself for a fight. In a rush of wind, his brother’s body collided with him like a freight train. The world tumbled and turned as they rolled in a heap into the dirt. Jack was on top of him holding him down with immense strength.
“Cal, I’m going to give you one last chance, but if you say no, I can’t let you live. You’ve seen and know too much.”
The skin peeler was out of his pocket and in Caleb’s hand, and he swiped at Jack’s face, catching the edge of his cheek and tearing away a flap of skin. A black liquid splattered from the wound even as it began to heal itself.
“You’re a fool, Cal. I’m sorry it has to end this way.” Jack’s mouth contorted and twisted in a flurry of fangs. A large, forked tongue flicked at Cal’s face like a snake about to strike.
“I’m sorry, too.” Caleb slammed the long end of the skin peeler into Jack’s eye sending him sprawling backward with an ear-piercing wail. Caleb sprang to his feet and ran. A joyful yelp erupted from him as he emerged from the corn in front of his house.
In this chaos, his internal compass had led him home.
He burst through the front door and he flew up the stairs, not chancing a glance at the cult member he had stabbed in the kitchen. Jack entered the house in pursuit.
Caleb slipped into Jack’s room. Frantically, he scrambled for a weapon and his hands landed on the telescope. He held it tight as he crept into the closet pulling the door partially closed.
Caleb’s ragged wheezing disturbed the suffocating silence. He carefully peeked through the crack in the door.
Shit, I can’t see anything.
In an explosion of wood and metal, the door was ripped from its hinges, and his brother stood in front of him. His face twisted and deformed, hands long twiggy claws, his one eye destroyed. More of a monster than his baby brother.
Caleb used all his strength and lashed out. The beat-up brass telescope connected with a loud crunch as it smashed into Jack’s head. Shards of glass from the broken lenses scattered around the room. The creature’s body hit the floor as if drawn by a magnet. Caleb stood over him knowing what he had to do, but unable to move. His brother rolled over and opened his undamaged eye. The comet’s light cast the whole room in blue and violet.
“It’s already over, Cal. You can’t win.” His voice sounded like hundreds of voices all speaking at once. “The One who Rides the Comet will come for me. And he’ll come for you.”
Caleb shrugged his shoulders as he raised the telescope above his head. “I already lost when I lost my baby brother. Nothing else could hurt me.”
With every ounce of strength, anger, and sadness he had, Caleb swung the telescope down.
Over and over and over again.
Black liquid sprayed from this brother’s face and head. A spasming claw gripped Caleb’s side, but he kept swinging. The skull splintered and cracked. The flailing and convulsing of the body stopped, and Caleb crumpled to the ground. His sobs echoed like thunder through the quiet of the night.
Blood pooled around him, and dull pain grew into a roar. One of the talons had caught him in the side. Beneath his skin, something black squirmed and spread within. Caleb pulled himself up by the windowsill and leaned out into the night air.
Clutching his side, he made his way downstairs and out the front door.
An unnatural chill spread through every inch of him. Falling to his knees as unbearable exhaustion devoured him, Caleb rolled on his back and struggled for breath.
The sky above burned with a thousand stars; the swirls of the Milky Way could just be made out. The comet blazed like a spotlight. A gentle breeze caressed Caleb’s face, and on it, he thought he heard his brother’s laugh.
As life slowly left him, his eyes filled with tears that kaleidoscoped the heavens above. A brilliant ball of light descended toward the earth from the comet.
He turned his head away from the blinding glow and a memory stared back.
“Will we make it out of here someday, Cal?”
Caleb reached for his brother’s hand.
“We will, Jack. I promise, someday we will.”
ASTRONOMICAL CHOICES
ASTRONOMICAL
CHOICES
M. RICHARD ELEY
Kim’s head rested against the airplane’s window frame. The vibration caused her view of the stars to jiggle. Since the cabin lights were dimmed, she couldn’t stop watching the sky. Everything so clear, so crisp. One of the brightest stars seemed to flash. Red, green, red, green. Like a Christmas light. She wondered what its name was.
A raspy voice whispered in her ear. “That’s Raʾs Al-ghūl.”
She jerked around, her hand instinctively clutching for her daughter, sleeping in the middle seat.
On the other side of Tonya sat a lanky man, wearing a white linen suit. He turned a page on his in-flight magazine, seeming oblivious to her stare. She didn’t remember him being there before. She peeked through the seat gap behind her. A row of three white-haired ladies, sound asleep, each slumped on the others.
She shook her head. Must have been dreaming. Tonya stirred, and Kim relaxed her hand.
In the same raspy voice as before, the man spoke, though it didn’t sound close this time. “Nowadays, folks call it Al-gaal.” He laid the magazine in his lap.
Kim tried to process the situation. All she managed to come up with was “What?”
The man continued facing straight ahead, but he smiled a toothy grin. “Raʾs Al-ghūl. The bright star you were admiring. Algol.” He nodded at her, then lifted his sharp chin at the airplane window. “The demon star.”
She glanced at the window for an instant, then snapped back around.
The man chuckled. “You have nothing to fear from me. Actually, I am the only one who can save you both.”
Kim scrutinized him, sizing him up against every other crazy man she had ever met. He held a calm assurance about him, was well groomed, his reddish skin deeply tanned. He gazed at her while she completed her assessment.
“Thank you, but we don’t need anything.” She turned away, facing the window.
“Thousands of years ago, some believed a demon serpent occasionally dined on that star. Explaining why it dims and brightens, you see.”
Kim continued to stare into the sky, one hand resting on her daughter’s leg. She made no reply.
“But that’s a silly concept, wouldn’t you say?”
She looked over at him. “Sir…just leave us alone, okay?”
“You may call me Druthers.”
“If you don’t leave us alone, Druthers, I’m gonna call—”
“You have a rare opportunity today, my dear. Certainly, the rarest of your life, I would think. Will you dare waste it, Kimberly?”
The mention of her name stopped her reach for the call button. “How do you know my—”
“Oh, I know a great many things.” He gave the same quiet chuckle. “For instance, inside our starboard engine—I believe you can just see it from your window...”
She glanced at her daughter, then out at the wing. “What about it?”
“Fascinating machines, jet engines. That one is a Rolls-Royce Trent 7000. Remarkably efficient, impressively reliable.”
“Uh-huh. Right.” She leaned back in her seat. “You some salesman or something?”
“Salesman? Well, yes, that is true, I suppose I am.” He smiled. “A salesman. I like that.”
“Well, we don’t need anything. Thanks anyway.”
“But you haven’t heard my, ummm...” He tapped his knee, then held up a long, bony finger. “My pitch!”
Kim sighed, settled back and closed her eyes. “Whatever.”
“Now, as I was saying, Trent engines are very durable. However, in this case, just as our plane took off, a ten-millimeter nut fell off an airport security van speedily circling the airfield.”
“Uh-huh.” She sighed. “Wow.”
“Yes, and that nut bounced across the runway, hit a rubber seam, and shot thirty feet up into the air. Can you believe it? Thirty feet!”
“Yeah, amazing. So, I’m just gonna listen to some music, and if you—”
“And that nut, no bigger than the tip of your finger—” He stuck out a pinky. “—ended up smack dab in front of the starboard engine on this plane. Sucked it right in.” He made a slurping sound and jerked his finger sideways.
Kim squinted at him. “What, during takeoff?”
“Yes, indeed. And that little nut miraculously made it through the first set of compressor blades without touching a thing. Can you believe it?”
“Uh, sure. That’s great.”
“Unfortunately, though, when it reached the secondary turbine, it hit two blades. Still, such a wonderful product, the Trent 7000, that those titanium blades didn’t even break. They shredded that little nut like a carrot in a blender. Amazing.”
“Okay dude, I’m over your lectures. You need a—”
“Ah, I apologize. These modern devices fascinate me greatly. I tend to wax on about them.” He held up both hands in surrender. “Let me summarize.” He pointed toward the wing. “In two-hundred, eighty-seven seconds, that engine will explode.”
“What? What are you talking about?” The realization that she might be sitting beside a terrorist shot ice up her spine.
“The turbine blades damaged by the impact will shatter. In a chain reaction of failures, the engine will tear itself apart.”
“Please, mister, don’t hurt us. My daughter is only four years old.”
Druthers shook his head and again raised his hands. “You misunderstand. None of this is my doing, I assure you. I am but a mere bystander in these things.”
It dawned on Kim right then: this man wasn’t a terrorist — he was a lunatic. Mentally ill. Trying to scare her for a cheap laugh, or maybe con her out of some money. She relaxed a bit before sticking her finger in his face.
“Hey, asshole: piss off. Or I swear I’ll have you arrested. Get me?” She jabbed her nail dangerously close to his right eye.
Without blinking, he nodded. “You are not so easily convinced. Perhaps that is commendable.”
Kim gave him one last jab before lowering her hand. “Yeah. Remember that.”
“I suppose I’ll need to show you.” His hand moved so fast she couldn’t pull away. When his fingers closed on her wrist, everything went dark.
Not completely dark, though. Stars. A blinking white strobe. Silver moonlight glinted across the plane’s wing as they gently banked over the ocean.
Kim pulled back from the window as a bright light flared inside the jet engine, like an orange flashbulb. Angry red flames shot out the exhaust, sucked back in, then shot out again. Kim screamed as the engine exploded. Loose turbine blades sparkled as they ripped apart the thin aluminum engine cover. The wing twisted, then tore away.
A violent roll clockwise slammed Kim against her lap belt. Luggage and belongings whirled throughout the cabin. Her daughter cried “Mommy!” and Kim reached for her, but the tumbling yanked them apart.
“Tonya, hold on! Tonya!”
“I’m scared, Mommy!”
Kim’s hand finally landed on Tonya’s, and they both held on tight in the chaos.
The plane groaned and shuddered. With a horrible screech, it split apart a few rows in front of them. Seats whipped away into the roaring darkness. The fuselage gave up its remaining strength and disintegrated into a cloud of debris. As they were thrown away from one another, into the ice-cold night sky, Kim’s last vision was wide-eyed terror on her four-year-old’s screaming face.
Kim jolted upright, straining against the lap belt, flailing for her daughter. Her fingertips jammed into the seat-tray in front of her. Pain shot through her hands, snapping her into the present.
“Calm down, everything is fine.” Druthers withdrew his arm. “For now.”
Tonya, curled in the seat, snored peacefully.
“A terrible vision, to be sure,” Druthers said. “But, alas, one to shortly become reality. Unless...”
Kim panted, trying to relax her pounding heart. She blinked away tears and wiped her face.
Druthers reached into his jacket pocket, produced a handkerchief, and offered it to her.
Kim didn’t move, just stared at him.
He shrugged and repocketed the swatch. “So, you have seen my, ah, sales pitch, I suppose we could call it. Now we must discuss the terms.”
“Who are you?” Kim shook her head. “How did you do that?”
Druthers smiled. “One of my many talents. Though it was merely a vision, in approximately—”
He checked his wristwatch and tapped its face. To Kim, it seemed to have countless layers of dials. As if a hole in space had opened through Druthers’ arm, extending into infinite watches, all ticking separately.
A sudden pain, deep in her head, made her turn away.
“Ah, yes.” Druthers tugged his sleeve over the watch. “Two-hundred, eleven seconds before your premonition becomes reality. Would you like to save yourself, this plane, and all these fine people?” He spread his hands wide, gesturing around them. “Three hundred and seven lives? That’s worth anything—wouldn’t you concur?”
Kim massaged her throbbing temples. “Worth what? Who the fuck are you?”
“You said it yourself. I’m a salesman.”
The whole thing was too much. She reached up and pushed the call button. It clicked. No light, no chime. Nothing.
Druthers nodded. “Out of order, I expect. More accurately speaking, I am a collector, of sorts.”
Kim called out, “Hello? Could someone help me please? Flight attendant?”
With a slight lean into the aisle, Druthers swiveled his head front to back. “Everyone seems to be otherwise engaged. I expect we have the place to ourselves for the moment.”
Kim released her lap belt and stood. As far as she could see, every seat appeared empty.
“Yes, a bit of privacy was necessitated. Now, shall we continue our transaction? Perhaps you’d like to experience the thirty-thousand-foot plummet, screaming all the way, until you smash into the frigid Atlantic water?” He reached for her wrist.
She pulled away, pressed hard against the wall.
“Perhaps Tonya should, yes?” His hand dropped a few inches.
“No!” Kim reached out with one hand, then quickly drew it back. She collapsed into her seat. “Please, leave us alone. Please.”
“Well now, if I honor your request, everyone on board will die in less than three minutes. Is that what you want?” He tipped his head and raised his brows.
Kim whispered her answer. “No.”
“Ah, how delightful. As I said, I am a collector. In exchange for what you provide, I will convince that sad, damaged turbine to last all the way to New York. After that, I suppose, it will no longer be your concern. You will be safe and sound and on your way to Brooklyn, arriving in time for your sister’s wedding. How nice.”
“I don’t have much money.” Kim lifted the necklace she wore and held out the stone. “This was my mother’s diamond, is it enough?”
Druthers raised his palms toward her. “And a lovely woman she was. Sadly, I cannot accept such baubles. I require something more…” He rubbed his fingers together. “Intimate.”
Kim nodded. She began unbuttoning her blouse. “Can we do it away from my daughter?”
Druthers snorted and shook his head. “My dear, nothing so mortal as coitus. Though…” He leaned a few inches closer and smirked. “You would enjoy it.” He took a deep breath and then sighed. “But now is not the time for such dawdles.”
She threw her hands up. “What then, dammit? What do you want?”
Druthers pointed at the sleeping Tonya. “Her soul.”
