~
Once inside the gymnasium, Bill Monaghan shut the door. The lights were on, and dozens of people were inside. Several of them wore police uniforms. Others were people she recognized: Mrs. Saxton the math teacher, Mrs. Field the owner of Save-N-Go. Even Mr. Allen, the fire-and-brimstone Baptist preacher, stood in the middle of the shiny basketball court.
“What is going on?” Sara shouted.
“I’ve brought her!” Bill Monaghan said.
The smiles that followed his words were wolves’ smiles.
“What is going on?” Sara shouted even louder.
The gymnasium wavered before her eyes. All the shadows from behind the bleachers and within the two locker rooms seemed to converge and coalesce until it formed a shadowlike silhouette. The same figure as the one she’d seen in the woods towered above her, now twice her height, but equally as hard to see as it had been in the shadowy woods.
“What is going on?” Sara screamed.
“I am Other, the First of the Outsiders. We have come from a world beyond the veil, from the world you rightly fear. The Waygate is open and cannot be closed. Some resist us more strongly than others. But make no mistake; in time there will be none left except us.”
Sara took a weak step back and fell into Bill Monaghan’s iron grip.
“My children have tried to inhabit you, Sara Moon, but failed. But no one is able to resist the Progenitor. The wound that my servant opened will let me in, and I will live in you, forevermore.”
Sara screamed. She struggled against Bill but Other was moving toward her in a stream of shadow; the chill of his formless spirit touched the wound, Sara’s body sang with unimaginable pain, and an explosion of unpent energy tore through the gym—tendrils of shadow and black fire—and in an instant, the mangled body parts of everyone who once stood nearby lay strewn everywhere. The school had caught fire. Everyone nearby was dead. But Other was gone, and Sara was still Sara.
In tears, she bolted out of the gym and back into the night.
Halfway out of the parking lot, the red car of Father Damion screeched to a halt. She entered without a word or salutation, shaking and tearing up. The air conditioning was on and the horrid heat left her, but the sight of Damion and his horned headpiece frightened her as much as it had when she first saw it. “Now you believe.”
Sara did not answer. She still couldn’t make sense of it. She felt glued to the seat, and each breath seemed a danger. She tried to respond but the lump in her throat had grown.
“I have a friend in San Antonio… his name is Ivan. Take the bus there, and he will take you in.”
Father Damion was driving toward the bus station, taking all the right turns. Thank God.
“Now after what… happened… the wound will stop hurting you a while. But when it starts hurting you again, the Outsiders will be able track you down. You are in danger, Sara Moon, because you put them in danger. Ivan will show you where you need to go to stop the Outsiders.”
No, Sara thought to herself, but managed not to voice the thought.
“The Outsiders know you for what you are. You are in greater danger now than ever. Ivan can heal you, but it will be risky and difficult…”
The lights of the bus station appeared in the distance. She put her hand on the door. Her palms had grown sweaty. She didn’t trust Father Damion any more than Other and the outsiders. She was a bitch, and she was a chik’n server that had never amounted to anything, but she knew people. And she did not trust Father Damion at all.
“I will let Father Ivan know that you are coming. He leads the Red Congregation in the southwest. He is a good man, an enemy of Other. He will treat you well, Sara Moon.”
They were nearly at the bus station. Ten more seconds. Her clammy hand slipped on the door handle.
“You are our only chance against the Outsiders. The Red Congregation will feed you and give you a place to stay. You have nothing to fear from us.”
The words sent a shiver through Sara Moon’s body, and she slithered in its wake like a worm. You have nothing to fear from us. Trust me. Those words always indicated you had a lot to fear, and that you should not trust them.
The car halted.
“Take the bus to San Antonio.” Father Damion handed her two twenty-dollar bills. She just barely managed to grasp them and shove them into her pocket. She opened the door, clutching her duffel bag in a trembling hand. She staggered toward the bus station lights. Three locations ticked overhead: Los Angeles, California… San Antonio, Texas… Jackson, Nevada…
She didn’t bother to look at where the other buses were headed, if there even were any. She ran up to the counter, where a fat and out-of-it woman stood with dull brown eyes. “Where to?”
“N-Nevada,” she stuttered. She looked back at the red car, pumping out exhaust, and it took incredible effort to smile at Father Damion. He thinks I’m going to San Antonio. The woman took her forty dollars and handed her a ticket. Sara didn’t bother to take the change.
~
Duffel bag in tow, she took a seat on the Nevada-bound bus. The glare of the bus station lights illuminated three passengers inside: an obese man with bloodshot eyes, a little girl sitting by herself, and a clean-cut man who looked like he had no business in Jackson, Nevada. She stowed her duffel bag under her seat and glanced outside, more to avoid eye contact with the other passengers than because of any real interest.
The Los Angeles-bound bus was right across from her. Even through all the obstruction, and even with an identity disguised behind sunglasses and a hat, Sara Moon knew that Lauren sat there. She’d told Lauren she was going to Los Angeles. An Outsider had taken her body, too. There isn’t anywhere I’m safe. A bus to Jackson, Nevada, wouldn’t be any safer. But now, she knew she could trust no one.
The bus sputtered to life. The acrid smell of exhaust bled in through the windows. The bus driver adjusted his mirror. Their eyes met. A red devil was tattooed on his cheek, and his smile was yellow.
The bus left the station. The journey to Jackson, Nevada would be days long. But she had never been so happy to see Grayson, Indiana, in the rear view mirror. The Outsiders were gone for now. Not even their leader had been able to possess Sara, but why not? So many questions, so few answered. Safe, but not for long.
Again Sara and the bus driver’s eyes met. The yellow smile he gave seemed more sinister this time, and Sara realized he knew something about her, more than he let on.
Continued in Episode Two…
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