What the hell?
Hearing the faint shuffling of shoes on cement, Blackburn spun, bringing his arms up defensively, but his reflexes were shot and he moved too slow.
A hard blow to his solar plexus doubled him over, then a fist slammed down on his back. He crumpled to the floor, the world once again spinning.
This was getting tiresome.
Then a dark figure crouched next to him, putting a hand over his mouth.
“Quiet now. Let’s let the children have their fun.”
Lisa was waving the gun around and Tolan stepped in front of Abby, shielding her. “Lisa, listen to me…”
“Don’t you try to protect her, you sonofabitch.”
“I’m begging you, leave her alone. You don’t have to do this.”
“Oh, please, Michael. Are you gonna tell me how much you love me now? Huh? Promise me it’ll all be better in the morning?” Her eyes were wild. The eyes of a psychotic.
“Waving that gun around won’t get you what you want.”
“Won’t it? It did before.”
Tolan’s receptors were on overload, the information coming at him too quickly to be processed. All the things he’d thought about himself, all the damage he thought he’d done, had been a fabrication. A jealous woman’s lie. And what frightened him most was that he’d actually allowed himself to believe her.
“She’s a whore. You said it yourself. And you just stood there like a pathetic fool and let her slap you.”
As she spoke, the information train continued to roll through Tolan’s head, transmitting images in rapid-fire succession, a fast-forward replay of Abby’s last night on earth.
He was remembering it now.
It was all coming back.
The blackout he’d suffered had not been the product of a dissociative personality at all, but a reaction to severe trauma. The trauma of seeing his wife stabbed to death by his best friend.
“She was cheating on you, Michael. I tried to prove that to you when I put those condoms in her purse. I knew you’d confront her and she’d have to confess.”
Tolan heard a rustling behind him as Abby took a step backward, receding into the shadows.
“You’re not making any sense,” he said. “Abby always considered you a friend. She never did a thing to you.”
“She took you away from me, didn’t she? And when the two of you started to fight so much, I thought there might be a chance for us. But then you took that little field trip up here and let her snap her precious pictures. I followed you, watched the two of you, and I knew, I knew she’d never let you go. She had her hooks in you and she’d keep them in, for as long as she could.”
“She didn’t trap me, Lisa. I was in love with her. I’m still in love with her.”
Another rustling sound behind him. A small whimper of pain. Tolan turned, peering into the darkness.
“Abby?”
“… A lie stands on one leg, the truth on two…”
He returned his gaze to Lisa. “You hear that? That’s you she’s talking about.”
“… A lie stands on one leg, the truth on two…”
“I did what I had to,” Lisa said.
“What about that murder last night? The one on The Avenue? Was that you too?”
“He was threatening us.”
“Us?”
“You and me.”
There was another murmur behind him. Unintelligible this time.
Tolan eyed the gun, then inched backward toward Abby, trying to see her in the darkness.
“If you wanted her dead, why didn’t you just kill her last night, when she walked in on you?”
Lisa’s eyes flared. “You think I wouldn’t have? I didn’t even know she was there. I heard a sound and ran like a scared rabbit.”
More rustling behind him.
Something about Abby seemed to be changing and he was reminded of what he’d seen in the seclusion room, the shifting of bones, the missing ear.
“Abby, are you okay?”
Lisa moved toward them, trying to peer into the darkness. “Don’t you get it, Michael? It’s happening. Just like the old man said. She’s one of the children now. The children of the drum.”
“Stay away from her.”
Lisa leveled the gun. “I can’t do that.”
“Put it down,” he said. “You’re not going to hurt her.”
“Move! I don’t want to hit you too.”
But Tolan didn’t move.
Face hardening, Lisa shifted her hand, pointing the gun toward the shadows behind him.
“Come out of there, you bitch. Show yourself. Show him what a freak you are.”
Her finger brushed the trigger, about to squeeze it, but before she could, a high, piercing shriek filled the room as a figure sprang from the darkness.
And what emerged no longer looked like Abby at all.
Was not even human.
Instead, a sleek, animal-like creature lunged for Lisa as—
— she stumbled back, wide-eyed, ready to fire and—
Tolan shouted, “No!” leaping in front of her as the gun went off, heat blossoming in the center of his chest.
He tumbled to the floor and the gun went off again and then again, followed by an agonizing screech of pain as something or someone fell nearby.
Then silence.
59
Someone was crying.
Tolan rolled, reaching up to touch his chest, his hand coming back red and wet.
Turning to see who or what had fallen next to him, he was surprised to find that it wasn’t the animal he’d seen only a moment ago, but Abby, her own chest and stomach covered with blood.
Her breathing was shallow, just like his, and he knew that she wasn’t long for this world.
Not again, he thought. I can’t lose her again.
Reaching across to her, he touched her hand, and she grabbed a hold of his fingers, her words coming out in slow, wet gasps:
“… It’s time, Michael… You can come with me now…”
“Abby, no…”
“It’s all right… we’ll be together… We’ll always be together…”
“Promise me,” he said.
She smiled at him.
“I promise.”
Then she squeezed his hand and quietly closed her eyes. And a moment later, as she drifted into death, she began to change again, her face shifting, cheekbones widening, nose growing narrow. And in a few short seconds there was a stranger lying next to him.
Jane Doe Number 314.
But it didn’t matter. Tolan knew that he’d be with Abby soon. Because he, too, was starting to drift, listening to the faraway sounds of someone sobbing.
After a moment, Lisa crouched over him, grabbing his hand, tears rolling down her face, and he wondered if hell reserved a special place for people like her.
“Don’t you die on me,” she cried. “Don’t you dare die.”
But he was dying. It wouldn’t be long now.
“I’m so sorry, Michael. Hang on. You’ve got to hang…”
The words suddenly caught in her throat as her eyes went wide, a look of confusion spreading across her face.
Then realization.
Then pain.
“… that hurts,” she said softly, and slumped forward, landing in a heap next to Tolan.
Tolan stared at her, at her lifeless eyes, but was too weak to muster up much surprise. What did surprise him was the man standing over her.
A familiar face.
A friend.
None other than Clayton Simm.
And he was holding a bloody scalpel.
He smiled at Tolan, his voice little more than a whisper. “I guess I owe you an apology, Doctor. Frankly, I’m a little embarrassed by this turn of events.”