Backtracker (63 page)

*****

Chapter
2
6

"
Come over here
!
"
shouted Larry Smith.
"
Come over so I can see you!
"

Dave was a wreck. Tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes; his body spasmed as he sobbed and gulped for breath. His features were warped in an agonized grimace, an expression of absolute despair and confusion.

"
Come on
!
"
hollered Larry, still concealed in the fissure.
"
I swear I won
'
t hurt you! I won
'
t hurt you, but if you don
'
t get your ass
over
here, I
will
kill your buddy!
"

Sobbing, Dave covered his face with his hands. It was too much, it was just too much for him; he felt himself buckling under the pressure, trying to shut it out and shut down.

He wanted to run. With his last words, Billy had
ordered
him to run, and Dave
wanted
to run, run as fast and far as he could from the madness. He desperately wanted to get away, race to his car, then to the steakhouse, see Billy at the broiler and know that it was all okay and had only been a
nightmare, just a nightmare.

He wanted to run...but Larry was making promises, casting hope like a baited hook into a lake. Larry told him that Billy was still alive; Larry told him what he wanted to believe.

Dave
wanted
to
believe
.
Still, the words had come from Larry, Larry the deceiver...Larry, who had hidden something vile, something
inconceivable
,
from the most intrusive eyes trained upon him for weeks.

Larry
wasn
'
t
to be
trusted
.
For all his claims to the contrary, Billy could very well be dead; the testimonials and threats might only be meant to entice Dave to his own death.

"
Get over here
!
"
shouted Larry.
"
Do you
want
me to kill him?
"

Dave knew that he should run, just run...and yet, as long as there was a
chance
that Billy Bristol still lived, how
could
he run?

If Billy was alive, and Dave chose to escape, Larry might fulfill his threats and execute the captive. In the end, Dave might share the responsibility for his best friend
'
s death; his inaction might have already cost Billy his life, but further hesitation or flight could guarantee the unbearable loss.

Dave
didn
'
t
want to move one step closer to the rift, the lair of the beast... but he knew that he
wouldn
'
t
be able to live with himself if he fled and Billy died.

He had
to go to Larry.

"
Okay
!
"
hollered the unseen tormentor.
"
No more bullshit! I
'
m counting to ten!
If you
'
re not over here by the time I
'
m done, I
'
ll
kill
him!
"

He ha
d
to go to Larry.

Now, there was a deadline. He was shaking, weeping, sweating, and he remembered the kid and most of the face was gone and glistening and Billy might be the same but
he ha
d
to
had
to go.

"
One
!
"
counted Larry.

Billy might be dead already, gored and swollen at Larry
'
s feet, an unreclaimable carcass. If he
wasn
'
t
dead, and Dave complied with Larry
'
s demands, there would be nothing to stop Larry from killing him anyway.

"
Two
!
"
counted Larry.

Dave
didn
'
t
want to go near the fissure; he
didn
'
t
want to see Billy
'
s body, or what was left of it, and he was terrified that he would have to watch Billy die. Already, Dave was coming unglued, ripping and splintering, wheeling like a tetherless kite toward a black and starless night; if
he had
to watch his friend die, he might loop off into the darkness and never return.

"
Three
!
"
flung the relentless voice from the pit.
"
Four!
"

If Dave went to the trench, he might become the third casualty of the day. First the kid, then Billy, then Dave himself, all mauled and faceless and red and more red and how long would it take for someone to
find
them all the way out there and what would be
left
of them by then?

"
Five
!
"
counted Larry.

Sobbing, Dave looked at the fissure through a mist of tears. He looked all around, squinting at the barren plateau as if he expected to see an answer or someone who could help him; he saw nothing but cold, pale stone.

"
Six
!
"
counted Larry.

Shivering uncontrollably, Dave looked to the distant edge of the formation. He could still run, could still get away; Larry
wouldn
'
t
be able to snare him by any means except trickery. The trench was perhaps twenty feet away; even if Larry shot from it and ran like a deer, Dave would have enough of a head start to outrace him.

"
Seven
!
"
shouted Larry.

Run; yes, he would run. He would run away, away from Larry, away from the kid, away from
all
of it. He would run away, and home would be waiting and he would be safe and he would forget and Darlene would come over and he would smile and no more no more of
this
.
No more chasing, no more craziness, no more blood, no more mysteries...and everything would be okay, back to normal if he ran.

Alive.

His best friend.

Alive.

"
Eight
!
"
counted Larry.

What if his best friend was still alive?

What if his best friend was already dead?

What if
he had
to
watch
as his best friend was killed?

Too much. It was just too much.

"
Nine
!
"
yelled Larry.

"
I
'
m
coming
!
"
wailed Dave.
"
I
'
m
coming
!
"
he screamed brokenly, stumbling toward the fissure, only half
-
aware that he was speaking or moving.

"
You
'
ve made the right choice
!
"
shouted Larry.
"
Now hurry it up!
"

Quaking fiercely, Dave wobbled toward the terrible rendezvous. In spite of Larry
'
s prompting, he
didn
'
t
rush; it took all that
he had
just to teeter slowly for the rift.

"
Come on
!
"
hollered Larry.

Like a drunk or a zombie, a walking dead
-
man, Dave shambled over the stone. Automatically, he moved to the right, heading for a part of the fault that was many feet from the site of Billy
'
s submergence; though
he had
to present himself to Larry, he would give him as wide a berth as possible.

"
What
'
s the hold
-
up
?
"
barked Larry.

"
I
'
m
coming
!
"
cried Dave. Unwillingly, he hobbled toward the cut; only a few feet separated him from the gash in the rock. Sucking in a deep breath, he tried to steel himself, prepare for what he might see or what might happen; even as he tried to convince himself that he was ready, ready for anything, he knew that it
wouldn
'
t
take many more shocks to launch him squalling like a baby into a grand new madness. If Billy was dead...if Billy had been maimed like the kid...Dave
didn
'
t
think that he could sustain any kind of rational thought or behavior.

"
Come
on
!
"
Larry shouted irritably.
"
I don
'
t have all day!
"

Heart hammering in his chest like a boxer
'
s quick fist upon a bag, Dave paused within a foot of the rim. Closing his eyes for an instant, he drew another deep breath.

Then, he inched to the edge of the fissure and gazed into it.