Shocked, Tom realized he knew the man. He recognized him. It was the lanky, long-haired young guy from the heavenly garden. The man with the sunken cheeks and hollow eyes, the addict he"d seen on television lying in the hospital bed next to his.
Slowly, the man raised one hand, his wrist bandaged. He reached out desperately as if trying to touch Tom"s face through the windshield gla.s.s.
Then, in the very next second, before Tom could react, two of the hungry-eyed malevolents lunged out of the surrounding whiteness and seized the man in their poisonous hands. The man shrieked in terror as the creatures" long claws dug into the flesh of his arms. He shrieked again as, gibbering, the malevolents dragged him off the car"s hood. The man went on screaming and screaming, but it was no use. With wild cries of triumph, the creatures hauled him away into the mist.
The calm voice on the radio gave a warm laugh. "Now there"s a man who finally got what he wanted," he said.
Openmouthed, Tom stared out the windshield at the place where the long-haired man had been. The whole awful scene had happened in an instant, and another instant pa.s.sed before Tom could break through his horror and amazement and act. Then, quickly, he reached for the baseball bat next to the seat beside him. He had to do something. He had to . . . what? He didn"t know. Would he go out there? Try to fight the monsters? Try to save the man? What chance did he have?
It didn"t matter. He had to try. He wrapped his fingers around the Warrior and turned back to the windshield, grabbing hold of the door handle with his other hand, ready to leap out.
But it was already too late. The fog swirled and tumbled past the Mustang"s windows, deep and thick and empty. The long-haired man had vanished. And what Tom saw next filled his whole body with an acid fear.
The malevolents. They were coming for him. They were everywhere.
His car had been stopped too long. The monsters had spotted him. They were swarming around him now, hunched figures limping and hunkering toward him out of the mist, becoming visible on every side of the Mustang, at every window.
There were two right in front of him, their raw, hideous, misshapen faces caught in the out-glow of his headlights. They were approaching the hood of his car, their arms raised for attack, their clawed fingers reaching. There were more of them to his left, out the driver"s window. Three more hungry-eyed beasts slouching out of the drifting whiteness, closing on him. Two more to his right, coming toward the pa.s.senger window. And when he looked up into his rearview mirror, he saw the lumbering figures coming up behind him, too.
He was surrounded. There was no way past them.
"I told you, Tom," the Lying Man said quietly over the radio. "You"re never alone."
Tom"s muscles had gone weak with terror. Second after second as the creatures closed in on him, as they limped closer and closer toward the car from every side, he sat behind the wheel frozen, unable to will himself to move. The monsters in front of him reached his fenders. Their claws were on his car, sc.r.a.ping horribly against the metal. They were beginning to climb up onto the hood, making the Mustang rock. Tom"s heart pounded as one of the malevolents reached his door. He heard its claws sc.r.a.ping at the door"s handle. And now another one started pounding at the pa.s.senger window, trying to break through the gla.s.s. And the car rocked even harder as yet another of the things started to climb onto the trunk in back.
"There"s nothing to be afraid of, Tom," said the Lying Man. "Soon you and I will be together forever."
Tom let out a roar and hit the gas. The Mustang"s tires squealed and the car shot forward. The monsters on the hood went flying off to either side. For another second-and then another-Tom saw the creatures at the windows running alongside him, hanging on to the doors, trying to keep him from getting away. But the car kept racing forward. The malevolents lost their grip and tumbled off into the mist. Tom kept roaring, kept the gas pedal pressed down hard beneath his sneaker.
The car broke out of the closing circle of creatures and shot away. Tom was free-free but blind because now the mist was thick again, tight against the windows again, and the car was speeding, speeding through a swirling, cottony ma.s.s in which he could see nothing.
Moving so blindly at such a speed, Tom quickly lost his sense of direction. He didn"t know where the road was. He didn"t know where he was going.
There was one more giddy second of racing blindness. Then the Mustang hit the curb, bounced up over the sidewalk, and smashed into a tree.
The car stopped. The engine died. The fog closed in around him.
In that first moment of impact, there was a crunch of metal, a clatter of shattering plastic, a tinkle of breaking gla.s.s. The left side of the fender collapsed as it smacked into the tree trunk. The left headlight disintegrated. The jolt threw Tom forward against the seat belt, and the belt threw him back against the seat. He was dazed for a moment-but only for a moment. He willed his mind clear. There was no time to waste.
The malevolents would catch up to him in seconds. With the car dead, he"d have no chance to escape.
He grabbed the ignition key, wrenched it over, trying to start the car again. The engine wheezed and coughed but wouldn"t catch. He could see smoke beginning to pour up from beneath the hood. No, it was no good. The Mustang was finished.
Time to go.
He grabbed the baseball bat. Yanked it out of its s.p.a.ce by the door. He glanced through his window to see if the path was clear. He saw the malevolents, dim in the thick fog, but getting clearer every second as they came humping after him.
Moving with the speed of panic, Tom pressed the b.u.t.ton to release his seat belt. He grabbed the door handle. Pushed the door open. Dragging the Warrior with him, he tumbled out into the mist.
The cold, damp air closed over him, chilling his cold, damp skin. But it wasn"t just the air that chilled him. It was the beasts. So near. He could see their dark shapes. He could hear the brusque grunts of their breathing, the shuffling rhythm of their oncoming footsteps. Without the car around him, he felt totally vulnerable-he was totally vulnerable. He had to get out of here. Now.
He"d lost his sense of direction. He wasn"t sure where he was. He wasn"t sure which way to go. But the monsters were closing in to the left of him, so he turned to the right, made his way around the fender of the car, and headed into the white murk.
The fog embraced him. Moving blindly, he half ran, half staggered forward. Guessing the direction, he tried to angle his way back to the road. He got it right. A few steps and he stumbled over the curb-nearly tripped, nearly went down, but was then running over the open asphalt with the mist drifting by his face.
He felt afraid. Worse than afraid. He felt hopeless. The fog was everywhere. The creatures were everywhere. He didn"t know where he was. He couldn"t see where he was going. How could he ever expect to escape?
The voice of the Lying Man played in his head.
I"m waiting for you wherever you go. Where are you headed now? To your school? I"ll be right there when you arrive. Me and all my friends. You can"t get away from us.
Maybe he was right, Tom thought. Maybe going to the school was a mistake. Or maybe the Lying Man was just trying to scare him, to keep him away from the place where his memory was, where the truth was.
Yes, Tom thought. Yes, that was it. The Lying Man would say anything to keep him from finding out the truth, to keep him from . . .
His thoughts were cut off by a high, hollow, echoing shriek as a malevolent lunged out of the fog, reaching for him.
Tom screamed and twisted away. He felt the thing"s claws slice through his sleeve and nick his shoulder. He felt darkness swim up through his mind at the poisonous contact. He staggered back, nauseous, unsteady. The malevolent recovered its balance, turned, preparing to lunge again. Tom braced himself. He grabbed the Warrior bat in both hands. He pulled it back over his shoulders.
With another awful shriek, the malevolent rushed at him again, its distorted features careering toward him out of the fog.
Tom swung with all his might, swung for the fences.
The bat connected-but it wasn"t a good hit. The creature was too close. It jammed him. The thinner midsection of the bat struck the beast on the arm. The impact wasn"t solid enough to knock it down. But the thing did stagger a few steps to the side. That gave Tom the chance to dance away from it, stepping back quickly out of its reach.
He almost b.u.mped into the malevolent right behind him. Fortunately, the thing let out an eager, hungry shriek and Tom heard it. He spun around-just in time-the beast was nearly on him. It was lurching forward, its eyes gleaming, its dagger-like claws extended toward his face.
There was no time for Tom to bring the bat around again, so he jabbed with the head of it. It hit the malevolent in the throat. The creature gagged, and a nauseating green slime came out of its mouth as it tumbled over, clutching at its own neck. It fell to the pavement, writhing and choking and spitting.
Tom didn"t pause to watch. He knew the first beast was coming after him. He turned-and there it was, nearly on top of him. And here came the others, an army of hulking shadows limping toward him out of the swirling white.
The closest creature gave a high-pitched snarl, its sunken nostrils flaring at the scent of him, its eyes bright with hunger.
Tom heard Lisa"s voice as if she were whispering into his ear: The doctors say if they lose you again, if your heart stops beating again, they doubt they"ll be able to revive you. They doubt you"ll be strong enough to make it back.
He didn"t hesitate. He c.o.c.ked the bat again and swung full force. There was a sickening thud as he made home-run contact with the nearest creature"s head.
What happened next was too disgusting to describe. Even the howl the creature made was so awful that Tom, hearing it, felt as if his blood had turned to ice. In the next second, what was left of the malevolent was writhing at Tom"s feet, transforming, smoking, boiling and bubbling into a hideous goo.
Tom took one second to gape at the mess where the creature had been. But that was all the time he had. The rest of them were closing in fast; the one in the lead was so near that Tom could see its burning eyes and the white flash of its sharp teeth.
He turned. He saw the other monster-the one he"d hit in the throat-lying in his path. It was also starting to smoke and melt, its substance bubbling and dissolving into the pavement.
Tom took a long step and leapt over the thing where it lay.
He ran.
He ran-and the mist surrounded him. It chilled him and turned his sweat cold and clammy. The fog was so thick he couldn"t see two feet ahead of himself. With each step he expected one of the beasts to loom suddenly out of the whiteness in front of him. Now and then, as he raced on blindly, he caught a glimpse of the things hunched and skulking in the depths of the white. They were keeping pace with him, tracking him, waiting for him to get tired, waiting for him to stop and rest so they could close in for the kill.
And he was getting tired. He was already out of breath. His legs were beginning to ache. His lungs were burning. His speed was beginning to dwindle away. He couldn"t keep this pace up much longer. He needed to rest.
He dared to take a look back over his shoulder now. Nothing but whiteness. He looked forward. Whiteness. He glanced to the right and the left. White and white. Maybe he"d lost them. Maybe he could pause for just a moment . . .
He slowed to a jog. He slowed to a walk. Almost at once, he heard a bizarre, echoing squeal right behind him. He spun to look, panting.
"Oh no," he whispered.
The fog was suddenly full of them. So many. A whole army, it looked like. Close and moving in. He could hear the harsh snorts of their breathing. He could hear the whisper of their shuffling footsteps. He could see them slumping closer and closer, their forms becoming clearer and clearer as they moved in on him step by slow step.
Just then he heard something new. A soft whisper. A gentle rattling noise above his head.
It was the wind. Now he could feel it. The wind was lifting, stirring the leaves on the trees. The fog began to move and shift with the current of it. Tom began to hope: maybe . . .
He looked around. Yes, there, in the direction he"d been running: the mist was growing thinner.
The wind continued to blow. The mist continued to disperse. Slowly, something new was becoming visible in the whiteness.
What was it? He wasn"t sure at first. Just a cl.u.s.ter of strange shapes and shadows. He couldn"t figure out what they were. But there was no time to think about it. The malevolents were closing in, dozens of them. Another few seconds and they"d be on him. They"d tear him to pieces. He had to go toward where the fog was parting.
Even with death so near, he had to force his weary legs to move. Ignoring the ache of his muscles, ignoring the burning sensation in his lungs, he started running again.
The wind grew stronger. The fog tumbled dizzyingly around him, leaving him disoriented, off-balance. Still, he managed to stumble toward those bizarre shapes in front of him. They started to become clearer. Now he began to see them through the mist. Was it possible they were . . . ? Yes . . .
Tom felt the hope swell inside him. With his last reserves of energy, he put on an extra burst of speed. The fog continued to thin around him as the wind grew stronger. He ran-and finally, the great ma.s.s of mist parted, parted as if a pair of huge hands had seized it on either side and pulled it open like curtains. The edges of white drew apart, threads and tendrils lingering between them. And then even the tendrils blew away and the scene was revealed.
He was in the playground. He had stumbled into the playground of the lower school. It was a sandy pit filled with equipment and structures. Those weird shapes he"d seen-they were the climbing frame, the slide, the crawling tube, the seesaw, and the carousel. Once the fog was peeled away from them, their colorful plastic shapes weren"t strange to him at all. He pa.s.sed this playground on the way to school every day. He knew it well. He"d played here as a little kid.
Quickly, Tom looked around. The wind had blown the fog back from the edges of the sandpit. It was as if an invisible barrier was holding the mist at bay. Tom could still see the monsters in the whiteness behind him. He could still hear them shuffling and grunting. But they couldn"t come any closer. They couldn"t breach the fog to enter the clearer playground. They drifted back and forth in the mist in hungry frustration.
He was safe. For the moment.
Exhausted, gasping for breath, weak with relief, Tom felt his knees go wobbly under him. The Warrior bat dropped from his trembling fingers, making a metallic sound as it hit the sand. He staggered and had to grab hold of the climbing frame"s post to keep himself up. His eyes lifted and he saw-he almost couldn"t believe it-he saw the sky! The blue sky made pale by the last thin layer of mist. Could it be that the fog was clearing?
It was. He leaned on the frame and peered off into the distance. The wind continued to stir and the fog continued to blow away from before him.
And now, like a magic city emerging from the clouds, a welcome and familiar scene appeared. A gra.s.sy hill. A winding asphalt path along the top of the slope. And at the peak: the school, his school, Springland High.
He was almost there!
Tom would never have thought he could be so glad to see the place. The school was not exactly a crystal fairytale palace to look at. Just a sprawling one-story structure of brick, metal, and gla.s.s. It was a building Tom came to almost every day. He had become so used to the sight of it that he hardly noticed it at all most of the time. If you had asked him, he would have had to think for a minute before he could say what it looked like. But he noticed it now, all right. He saw it clearly. And what it looked like to him was a refuge, a place to hide, a place to get away from the army of murderous creatures behind him and begin to find the answers he so desperately needed. The woman in the white blouse. The address he"d scribbled down and left in the office of the Sentinel. The path back into his memory and the secret of what was keeping him in this coma, so close to death.
He had to get up that hill. He had to hurry, too. He did not know how long the wind would continue blowing, how long the fog would hold off.
He pushed wearily away from the climbing frame until he was standing on his own. He looked back into the mist out of which he"d come.
The malevolents were still there, still milling along the edges of the marine layer. They snarled and pawed at the churning whiteness as if hoping to break through into the clear. But they couldn"t do it.
Tom turned away from them, turned back toward the school. The wind continued to blow, making a path for him through the mist, a clear path up the hill. He took a step toward it.
Remember the Warrior.
Right. He"d nearly forgotten. He bent down and picked the baseball bat up out of the sand. Then, gripping the Warrior in one hand, he started moving. He trudged over the playground sand to the edge of the gra.s.s. He started up the hill.
It was slow going. His legs were so tired from running. He was still out of breath. Even this small climb was an effort. His shoulders slumped, the bat b.u.mping over the sod behind him, he trudged upward.
He was just about halfway to the top when there was a new noise. A dark rumble inside the rising rush of the wind. Thunder. Tom felt a fresh twinge of anxiety. The last time it had started to rain, the monsters had gotten him. He couldn"t let that happen again.
He paused. The cold air rushed over him. He could feel the storm coming. He looked back down the hill. The pillowy whiteness of the fog was on the move again. It was beginning to roil with the wind. It was starting to roll forward, over the edges of the playground where Tom had just been. Even as he stood there watching, the climbing frame began to fade and grow dim, then the seesaw . . .
The fog was coming after him. And with the fog came the malevolents. Tom could see them moving into the playground, limping amid the equipment, searching for him.
Another low rumble of thunder. No time to waste. He faced forward again, up the hill, toward the school. But before he started moving, he saw something that made him pull up short. Something inside the school. Something alive.
There was a long line of windows in the front of the school. They were tall, the panes starting just off the ground and rising to about shoulder height. The lights were off inside the building and the windows were dark. But as Tom looked, he was almost sure he saw a slow movement behind the unlit gla.s.s.
Where are you headed now? To your school? I"ll be right there when you arrive.
Tom shuddered at the memory of the Lying Man"s promise-or was it a threat? Were the Lying Man and the creatures he controlled already ahead of him? Were they already waiting for him inside the building?
He swallowed. He glanced back over his shoulder. The wind continued to blow and the fog continued rolling toward him up the hill. Already, most of the playground equipment had disappeared in the whiteness. Already, the first of the malevolents were limping toward the bottom of the slope.
Tom had no choice. He had come this far. There was nowhere to go but forward.
He began to climb the hill again. He neared the school slowly. He reached the path at the top of the slope. Just as he did, another movement at one of the school"s windows caught his eye.