Strangely, surprisingly, she meant it.
Saint John bent close and kissed her on the lips. Without passion, but with love. With the kind of love only he understood.
“I know,” he said.
“Please don’t let it hurt,” she whispered.
“No,” he said.
And it did not.
Mother Rose fell into his arms, and Saint John lowered her to the ground. Then he stepped back, turned, and with Brother Peter at his side, walked away.
She lay there as the sun set. Time was dancing away from her.
There was movement somewhere to her right, and she managed to turn her head, just a little. Brother Alexi was stirring, crawling across the grass toward her.
Alive, she thought, her heart filling with joy. My love is alive.
Except that he wasn’t.
The giant was as pale as the distant stars, and as he bent toward her she could see the darkness. It was in his eyes and in his open mouth.
It’s real, she thought. Her last thought. The darkness is real.
93
WHEN BENNY OPENED HIS EYES ONCE MORE, THE WORLD HAD CHANGED.
It wasn’t the inside of the plane. It was daytime.
There was a motor roar, and even though he could not turn his head, he could cut his eyes left and right. There were quads. Riot and Chong on one. Nix and Eve on another. A big dog galloping along with them.
Is that a dog barking? wondered Benny. The dog was all in armor, and Benny thought that was cool.
He heard the motors slow.
“Sanctuary,” said a voice.
Nix?
He thought so.
“We have to hurry,” said another voice. Joe. “He’s slipping fast.”
Benny wondered if they were talking about him.
Or Chong?
The quads moved forward, and Benny looked up to see a big chain-link fence.
We’re home, he thought. We made it all the way back to Mountainside.
But there was a sign beside the gate he’d never seen on the fence back home. It read: SANCTUARY
GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR
YOUR HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE
But below that the original words were still visible, though sand-blasted to pale ghosts of letters by the unrelenting desert winds. As Benny passed the sign he read it: AREA 51
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA
TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED
He closed his eyes again and the world went away, taking all its puzzles and mysteries with it.
EPILOGUE
-1—
BENNY SAW TOM THERE IN THE DARKNESS.
His brother stood halfway down a long hallway that vanished into soft gray light. Tom was dressed for the Ruin, with his leather jacket and the kami katana slung over his shoulder.
“Tom?”
His brother turned slowly toward him.
He looked younger than Benny remembered. There were fewer shadows in Tom’s eyes.
“Hey, kiddo,” said Tom. “You have any idea what happened?”
“Yeah, a zombie hit me with a stick.”
“Crazy, huh? Bet you didn’t think that could happen.”
“Guess not.” Benny touched his head. It hurt, but it was all in one piece. That surprised him. In most of his dreams his head was in a thousand pieces and he was crawling around looking for the important ones.
“How come you never told me that zoms could do that?” Benny asked.
Tom shrugged. “World’s a big, strange place, Benny. What makes you think I know everything?”
“Oh.”
“Next time somebody swings something at your head, you might want to think about ducking.”
“Hilarious. Remind me to smother you in your sleep.”
“Little too late for that, kiddo.”
Even though Tom wasn’t moving, he seemed to be a little farther away. For the first time Benny realized that there were other people in the hallways. They were indistinct, more of a sense of movement in the gray light rather than specific shapes. He thought he recognized one of them, though.
“Chong?”
The figure stopped moving, but he stood with his back to Benny.
“Tom—is that Chong?”