John was breathless. “Tommy! Holy shit, you’re never gonna believe what’s happened. It’s incredible.”
“I know all about it,” I said, trying to quiet him. “But we got more important things to worry about right now.”
I had their attention.
“Listen up, all of you. Sherm’s going to be back here any second now. The cops know who we are. They know that it’s just the three of us holding you. My—my wife called them, after I talked to her.”
“Michelle?” John gasped. “She ratted us out?”
“She didn’t mean to, dog. She was just worried. Anyway, Sherm’s not acting real steady right now. He says that he’s going to surrender and let you guys go, but I don’t know if he means it. I’ve made up my mind—I’m going to get you out of here, but I need to find a way to talk to the cops and let them know I want to surrender. Any ideas?”
“I could fake another heart attack,” Roy suggested, glancing uneasily at the others, especially Dugan. At the time, I chalked it up to stress. Had I known…
“No.” I shook my head. “That won’t work. Sherm would probably just let you die in here. I found out that he didn’t ask for an ambulance for John, so I can’t see him getting one for you.”
Benjy slid backward, wiping John’s blood on his pants.
“Shit, I almost forgot. Benjy, come here. I need to tie your hands up again.”
Without a word, Benjy scurried back over to his mother.
“Come on, Benjy, don’t do this. You know I’m not gonna hurt you, buddy.” I looked around.
“Where the hell is the duct tape?”
“Tommy.” John was wide-eyed. “We can’t surrender. They’ll take us to jail.”
I knelt beside him and gave him a hug. He was surprised at first, but then he squeezed me back, tight.
“I’m glad you’re alive, man. You have no idea…” My voice cracked.
“Tommy, don’t cry. It’s okay now. That little kid saved me. Ain’t it wild?”
“Yeah, it’s something, that’s for sure. But we can’t let Sherm find out about him, John. Sherm can’t know what he can do, okay?”
“Why not?”
I sighed. “Something’s wrong with him, John. Something bad. Remember when you said that sometimes Sherm scares you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, let’s just say that I’m learning the reasons why. You’ve got to trust me on this, bro. There’s a lot of stuff about Sherm that we didn’t know. Stuff that happened before we met him, before he came to town.”
“What kind of stuff, Tommy?”
“Don’t worry about it right now. I’ll tell you later.”
He felt his stomach, letting his fingers trace over the spot where the wound had been.
“Now listen, John. I’m telling the cops that you weren’t involved with the robbery. You drove us here and didn’t know what we were planning. We just told you to sit in the car and wait. Next thing you know, Kelvin tried to carjack you. He shot you and you ran into the bank for help. That’s how you got here.”
“But Tommy—”
“No buts, John! You shut the fuck up right now and listen to me. That’s what I’m telling the cops and that’s what you’re gonna tell them too. You got that? Enough people’s lives have been destroyed today. I almost lost you, man. You almost fucking died. I’m not going to let anything else happen.”
“That’s very noble,” Dugan said. I detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but I ignored it. John nodded in understanding, then reached up and grabbed my shirt in his bloody fists.
“No more arguing,” I pushed his hand away.
“No, it’s not that, Tommy. I’ve gotta tell you something else. Wait till you hear this.”
“What?” I was only half-paying attention to him. Remembering my discarded pistol, I glanced around for it, only to find that it wasn’t where I’d left it. It was gone—just like the duct tape. I started to get a very bad feeling.
“Tommy—there was a light.”
That stopped me cold.
“W-what? What are you talking about, dog?”
“There was a light, a bright light. I remember getting shot, and I remember a little bit of running to find you guys, but not much after that. Just pieces here and there, like skipping around on a DVD or something. Gunshots. Sherm hollering at somebody. Sirens. I guess I went to sleep for a while. I remember it being cold, really fucking cold. I don’t know how long I was out. But when I woke up and looked down, you were bent over me, pounding on my chest and telling me to breathe. I told you that I was okay, but you didn’t hear me. That’s when I figured out that I was looking down at my own body, just like in the movies. I was here in the vault but I was floating above the rest of you.”
The image made me think of my nightmare. I kept looking for the gun and listening for Sherm’s return while John continued.
“There was a light outside in the hall, and voices too. I tried to go to the light, but the voices stopped me before I could reach it. I couldn’t see anybody, but I felt them all around me.”
It seemed that God had decided to show me more proof after all. In fact, it looked like He was going to shove the proof up my ass.
Ask and you shall receive…
“Who? Who’d you feel?”
“The voices. They told me that I wasn’t allowed to go into the light and that I had to come with them instead. I was scared, Tommy. I was so fucking scared. And then you guys disappeared. You and all these other people. I was alone in the vault with just the voices. They kept telling me to go with them.”
“He wasn’t going to see Jesus,” Benjy murmured. “He was going to see the others. The monster people. The ones inside Mr. Sherm’s head.”
“I don’t know about it being Jesus,” John said, “but it sure was something.”
I was starting to panic. Benjy’s hands were still loose, the tape and the gun were missing, my best friend who couldn’t add two plus two on a good day was sounding like some New Age prophet, and according to our six-year-old healer, Sherm had monsters living inside his head.
“The light vanished,” John continued, “like somebody had turned it off. I still couldn’t see them, but I could feel their breath on me. It stank, man—like the jiffy johns at the ballpark. They were shouting at me, calling me names and cursing me out. Then they started pushing me. I tried shoving them back, but there was nothing there. They moved quickly. One of them bit me, and I screamed. Its teeth, man—you know how it feels when you get a tattoo? That pinching feeling?
That’s what their teeth felt like, except sharper. I kept trying to hit the fuckers, but it was like punching air.”
I turned in a circle, looking for the gun. Dugan eyed me suspiciously.
“Then, all of a sudden, I felt something warm on my chest. It was another pair of hands—but they didn’t belong to those things in the darkness. The light came back—just a pinprick, but man was I glad to see it. It started getting brighter and brighter, and there was somebody standing inside it. I know it sounds crazy, but there was. A man, but I couldn’t make out much else. Then he touched me and I felt better. Just like that. The next thing I remember, I woke up, and that kid was taking his hands off my stomach.”
“That’s really something, man.”
“You know what else, Tommy?”
Sherm would be back any second. The last thing I wanted to hear any more about at that moment was John’s confirmation of life after death—especially given my current situation.
“John—listen, dog, did you see my gun? I left it lying right here next to you. I’ve got this .38 but we need to find the .357 before Sherm does. He’ll go fucking nuclear if he finds out I lost it.”
“Nope. When I woke up, the kid told me to close my eyes for a few minutes and rest. Then he had me open them again. That was when you walked in. I didn’t see a gun.”