The demon screamed. The stench of burned hair and cooked meat invaded Shotzen's nostrils. Bub batted at the flames with its claws and rolled in the cramped hallway, trying to staunch the flames.
“What the hell?” Andy said. He'd come out into the hallway fifty yards further down, on the other side of the second gate. Sun appeared a moment later.
“Stay back,” Shotzen warned them.
Bub burned for almost a minute before the sprinklers came on.
The flames died down, and then smoldered out. Smoke began to clear. Shotzen stared in amazement as Bub's burned flesh seemed to wash away under the water stream. He shook like a wet dog and shed the scorched flesh. Underneath his skin was new and unharmed.
“Now it’s my turn,” Bub said.
“Rabbi!” Andy yelled. “Come on!”
“Run!” Shotzen yelled back. “He knows the codes!”
Bub was on Shotzen in a single lunge, scooping up the holy man in a claw.
“Codes?” he asked. “There is mooooooore than one?”
He dragged Shotzen to the second gate and punched in a code.
Nothing happened.
The demon roared. It was the most horrible sound Shotzen had ever heard. Like the thunderclap of a terrible storm.
“What is the code for this dooooooooor?” Bub demanded.
The talons were digging deeply into Shotzen's body. If he'd been skinnier, it might have killed him. As it stood, they were only imbedded in fat, causing excruciating pain.
“Race!” Shotzen called to Andy. “The bombs!”
Andy nodded, grabbing Sun by the hand and disappearing into Red 3.
“The coooooooode,” Bub said. He tightened his grip.
It was like being prodded with hot pokers, the Rabbi thought. The pain was worse than anything he'd ever known.
“Shema Yisraeil, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad,” Shotzen gasped.
“Ah, the Shemaaaaaa,” Bub said. “Deuteronomy six four. Rabbi Akika, riiiight?”
Shotzen thought of Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph, the man who compiled the Mishna in the first century. He suffered a horrible death, tortured by the Romans, but still proclaimed his love for God as he died. His last words were the Shema.
“How did Rabbi Akiba die?” Bub asked. “Remembeeeeer?”
Shotzen remembered. The thought of it had given him nightmares as a youth.
Bub said, “I want the doooooooor code.”
Shotzen shut his eyes and prayed. “Barukh Shem k'vod malkhuto l'olam va-ed.”
Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom for ever and ever.
“Rabbi Akiba was skinned aliiiiiiiive.”
Shotzen quaked with fear. Bub pinned the rabbi to the ground and ripped away his clothing.
“Paaaaaaainful,” the demon said. He sunk two claws into Shotzen's shoulder and began to pull.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might!” Shotzen screamed.
He'd said the words a thousand times. Ten thousand. They were the words in his mezuzah on his doorway, the words in the tefillin he strapped to his arm and forehead for morning aleinu.
“The cooooooode,” Bub ordered.
Shotzen thought of his life. Of his parents. Of Reba. Of the congregation that didn't want him and the children he never had.
“Give me the code and I'll make yoooooooou better.”
Bub had healed Race's wife. He had seen them together, in the Octopus, laughing like children. Shotzen had no doubt that Bub could heal him now. Perhaps even fix his sterility. Shotzen could live through this, maybe even start a family. He knew that if he gave Bub the code, he didn't have to die.
Bub began on his leg, pulling and ripping. Shotzen fought against the agony and continued to pray.
“And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart!”
Perhaps fifty thousand times he'd said the Shema in his life. He'd meant it every time. But he'd never truly understood what love was until that moment. Loving G-d with more than heart and soul and might. Loving Adonai with your life.
Shotzen's eyes were somehow forced open.
“Seeeeeee this?” Bub held up what looked like a bloody rag. “This is your faaaaaaaaaace.”
Shotzen could no longer form words without lips, and an animal cry came from his throat. But his thoughts were focused.
And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
“Foooooools,” Bub spat. “Stupid religious foooooools.”
The light was dimming, things became blurry. Shotzen was in incredible pain. Yet he was happy. He knew even though he hadn't killed Bub, his life was not in vain. Bub wouldn't get out. Race would set off the explosives implanted in Bub's body. Shotzen hoped to live long enough to hear the boom.
“You won't die until I get the coooooode. I’ll keep resurrecting you, ooooover and ooooooover.”
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be frontlets between your eyes.
Shotzen could no longer see. His own blood had pooled into his eye sockets.
Angry at the lack of response, Bub began to rip the rabbi in half.
You shall write them on your doorposts of your house and on your gates...
Shotzen finished the prayer. His very last thought was his love for his Lord.
Bub cast aside the body of the holy man. Then he shook the titanium gate and howled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Where the hell is he?” Andy swore. He had the phone in his hand and had tried Race's room, the Octopus, the Mess Hall, the rec room, Helen's room, the library, and even the pool, all the while trying to remain in control while Shotzen screamed in the hallway.
“Use the intercom,” Sun told him.
“How? What goddamn button? Was it star something?”
“I forgot too, dammit!”
The floor shook and there was a tremendous clang. Sun and Andy exchanged glances and peeked out of Red 3 into the hall.
CLANG!
Bub had charged the gate and rammed it with his shoulder. His chest was soaked in blood, making the fine red hairs appear black. Behind him, Shotzen was lying on the floor in two large pieces, neither of which had any skin.
When Bub noticed Andy he smiled at him, stringy things sticking to his steak knife teeth.
“Aaaaaaaandy!”
“We are so out of here.” Andy grabbed Sun's arm and they ran down the Red Arm, away from the demon.
“Let me ooooout!” Bub shouted after them.
They rushed into the Octopus. No Race.
“Okay, what were Race and Helen doing?” Andy said, thinking out loud.
“Dancing. They were dancing.”
“Does this place have a disco?”
“No. But... the lounge! There's a stereo in the lounge.”
“What room?”
“Purple something.” Sun rubbed her forehead. “Um, the pool is 2, the bar is 6, library is 8. Dammit, I don’t know the lounge.”
“We’ll try them all.”
Andy picked up the nearest phone and dialed Purple 1. No answer. Then he tried Purple 4.
“Howdy, you're interrupting a rumba lesson.”
Thank God.