Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Chapter 58

"Look at this," Philip said to Leila as they crossed the Atlantic; and she watched the video from a fast-breaking item on one of the Network news channels.

It opened with what the news reader said was a view of Pittsburgh from the on-board camera of a private aircraft; and then the screen went completely white. When the camera cleared from being saturated, a huge ball of fire could be seen rising over the smoke and dust raised by the apparent blast, before the aircraft got hit by the shock wave and began to tumble.

This was followed by a current view of the area, showing a vast crater slowly filling with water from the Ohio River.

"What do you think happened?" Leila asked.

"I don't know," said Philip; "but I'm assuming that's what killed Suzanne, since she must have been there at the time."

"She and a quarter million other people."

#

A couple of hours later, they got to Casablanca, where night had already fallen, and bladed in to shore across the water, keeping just high enough so that the waves wouldn't trip them up.

Rantan, who'd felt them approach, met them at the waterfront.

"Hi guys," he said as he held the baby close with glowing hands. "I'm so glad you came. Do you have any idea what happened to Ricky and Suzanne?"

"Suzanne was taken out by a monster blast that blew away all of Pittsburgh," Philip said as they climbed the sea wall. "We've got no idea what happened to Ricky. Where is he?"

They crossed the Boulevard Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah; and Rantan led them to the building where Ricky's silent robot still sat.

Philip attempted to connect with Ricky. "Good," he said. "I can still feel his presence; so he isn't dead. But he does feel far away, like when he got hit by that electromagnetic pulse a while back."

"That's a relief," said Leila. "When'll he come back?"

"I don't know. He was gone for almost a day before Suzanne went and called him back ... Suzanne." After a moment, he turned to Rantan. "Well, Son, you've just witnessed human mortality. We can die."

"Yeah, but that's not the scariest part," said Rantan. "It's being alone and not knowing what to do." He held up Baby. "I've never looked after a baby before; but it was totally scared too. Looking after it ..." He lit his hands; and it glowed happily. "... made me less scared."

"That's right," Leila said. "Our salvation's in serving others." She took Rantan's hand, lit her own, and reached towards Philip. "Let's us three, uh-five, counting the babies-just be together for a while, and wait for Ricky to get back."

#

A little later, Ricky looked up and saw the five of them huddled together in a shared glow. They turned expectantly to him; and he came over and joined them.

"Hi," said Philip over the connection.

"Hi," Ricky replied.

"We're glad you're back, Dad," Leila said.

"Yeah," Rantan added.

"I'm not sure how I feel about it," said Ricky. "Suzanne's back there waiting for me; and I want to be with her."

"Why didn't you stay, then?" Rantan asked.

"I couldn't. God's given me a great and terrible destiny; and I haven't fulfilled it yet."

"So what actually happened to Suzanne?" Philip asked.

"Her father shot her with a plasma gun. It seems he saw her as one of his investments, and wanted her where he could keep an eye on her. That's why he asked her to come home; but that's not why he killed her. That happened right after she told him she was a Follower of the Anointed One." He replayed the entire memory, before freezing it at the instant when Bennett pointed the gun at her. "Notice he's aiming directly at her power supply, where the core of our glow is; so she ... died instantly."