Part 31 (1/2)
”Do it!”
And then the next thing Mike knew, the gun was in his his face. face.
”Do it,” the general shouted at Timmy, ”or I blow your f.u.c.kin' brother's f.u.c.kin' brains out right now!”
Timmy went to the portal. He stood before it.
”I love you,” he said without turning around. The tears in his voice broke his brother's heart. He was gonna burn, Timmy was gonna burn, and Mike and Del, they would be next. What a s.h.i.+tty G.o.dd.a.m.n way to go, how stupid was this?
”Sir,” Del said frantically, ”we need to take this thing up to the clinic. That's a secret installation! They know how it works, they can tell us.”
”Move!”
There was a click. The cold of the gun barrel nestled against Mike's neck.
Suddenly Timmy just very smoothly stepped forward and went right into the thing. He seemed to walk forward, but also to get smaller and smaller, until finally he just disappeared.
Silence. n.o.body moved. ”Jesus ...” the general whispered.
Then he seemed to climb out of something, and there he stood as clear as day in the gra.s.s on the other side, facing away from them. He bent down on one knee and ran his hands through the gra.s.s. Then he stood up and raised his eyes to what looked like a summer sky, floated with soft white clouds. Mike could practically hear the birds singing.
”Timmy,” Mike shouted.
”Shut the f.u.c.k up!” The general removed the gun from Mike's neck and stepped closer to the portal. ”Can you hear me?”
Timmy came close to the portal. Inclining his head to one side, he peered back at them. Could he see in this direction?
”Come back, Timmy,” Del shouted. ”Come on back, man!”
”Stuff it, soldier!”
”Yessir. But, Sir-”
Timmy held out a hand. He flattened it against his side of the portal-and instantly pulled it away.
Then Timmy was looking past the portal, seemingly into the sky above his side of it, or maybe at the portal itself, it was hard to be certain.
His face changed, moving into a wide-eyed expression of disbelief, then amazement.
He turned and went the other way, disappearing in among the trees of the orchard.
”TIMMY!” Mike went toward the portal. Mike went toward the portal. ”TIMMY!” ”TIMMY!” But as he tried to follow his brother, the general shoved him aside. But as he tried to follow his brother, the general shoved him aside.
”Get outta there,” he said.
”Where's my brother?”
”Eating G.o.dd.a.m.n apples, looks like to me.”
”He was running. Something was wrong.”
”Yeah, what's wrong is he's a f.u.c.king dumba.s.s not to come back.”
General Wylie stepped into the portal, using exactly the same decisive motion that Tim had used. Except ... he stopped. For a moment, there was silence. This was followed by a stifled cry that quickly became a howl of agony as flames burst through the fabric of his uniform, accompanied by a sound as if of frying bacon.
”Help him,” Colonel Manders shouted, s.h.i.+elding his eyes as he tried to get near the general, who was flopping like a fish, his body enveloped in flames.
Then, just as the others had done, he fell backward off the portal and lay kicking and spinning on the ground in burned agony.
Aside from the colonel, Mike and Del were the only members of the unit near the portal-alive, at least. Most of the ones who hadn't gone up into that machine or been killed like the general was being killed, had deserted by now. Maybe someone was still hanging in a Humvee here and there, but n.o.body who was willing to come anywhere near the portal.
Overhead, another meteor roared past, a thick streak of light accompanied by an ominous rumble. Somewhere below the southern horizon, it exploded in a flash.
”f.u.c.k this,” the colonel muttered. He swung into a Humvee, started it, and went back down the road, heading out toward the interstate and the Blue Ridge.
Mike and Del watched him go.
”Well, s.h.i.+t,” Del said into the silence that had enveloped the convoy. ”Anybody home? h.e.l.lO?”
Mike went to the portal.
”Timmy,” he shouted into it. ”Timmy!”
What was in there that had so upset him? Timothy Pelton did not scare easily, and Mike was in a position to know that. Even as kids, Tim had always been the bold one, the first one up the tree, the first one to ride the Top Thrill Dragster in Cedar Point, the first one to ask a girl out, the first one in to save Momma that time they had the fire.
Mike slumped. He felt Del's arm come over his shoulder.
”Del, I feel like he's on the other side of the moon. Farther.”
”What the h.e.l.l is this thing?”
”Some kinda cla.s.sified stuff, has to be.”
”They ain't got no problems over there,” Del said, ” 'cept them crab apples don't look real worth eating.”
”He's not eating crab apples! He run scared, man.” A sudden burst of pure hate overcame Mike, and he kicked the blackened rubble of the general hard a few times. ”f.u.c.kin' b.a.s.t.a.r.d! b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
”Hey. HEY!” Del pulled him away. ”That ain't gonna do nothin'. That guy was headed for a court-martial, anyhow, the way he's killing people. I mean, I saw about five murder ones go down here today.”
”Time of war.” He went close to the portal. ”Timmy! TIMMY, d.a.m.n your eyes, come back here!”
Then he saw, across a far hill, a small dot in motion. For some moments, he watched it as it moved steadily up the gra.s.sy hillside. Del also watched.
At some length, he said, ”Could be him.”
”Or some caveman who ate him. We gotta find out how this thing works.”
Del went to a Humvee and opened the door. Inside was Ken Freitag, a gun in his mouth and the back of his head spread across the cab.
”Occupied,” Del muttered.