The Tree of Knowledge

Are You There God?

As soon as Marcos is gone, the man cuffs my hands behind my back.

It's only now that I seem to remember how cold I am. My teeth chatter as I shiver in my clothes soaked with melted snow and blood. The man eyes me.

"We'll stop at a motel tonight." He promises. "I'll get you a hot meal and some dry clothes. And you could really use a bath."

I want to punch him for saying that and I'm not even sure why.

"What's the date?" I ask him. I lost track at some point...

I'm not sure when I stopped counting. But I think I know why. I think I let Jace be dead, and moved on. I was making a new life for myself.

Now that I'm being dragged back to my old life, the countdown seems important again. Can I see him again? Is he dead already?

"It's Thursday December the fifth." The man says.

Jace will be executed in two days.

And now so will I.

Maybe they'll stone us together.

Like Art and Greg.

We walk for half an hour before coming to some bushes. Within them the man has hidden a black dirt bike. He instructs me to get on the back. Behind my seat, there are handle bars mounted to the back, so I can hang on while still handcuffed.

How goddam convenient.

The bike roars down the road towards the front gate, cutting a black streak through the snow. Just before the entrance, we pass Carlsbad Cavern. The crazy cannibal people are there, watching us pass. On the side of the road, I spy one TARDIS blue bicycle handle poking out of the snow.

The guards let us through the gate without hesitation. They gape at one another in amazement.

"You actually found her? That's really her?" one of them asks.

"The one and only Kit Williams." The man responds.

"You were in there a whole month." The guard says to me. "How did you not get eaten?"

"Jesus must love me." I answer him.

From the gate we ride to a waiting pick up truck. The man has me wait in the cab while he lowers down a ramp and loads the bike into the truck bed.

I think about running. I think I could open the car door behind my back. But then what? There's nothing but desert stretching out around me. He'll probably shoot me in the back, if I don't trip and break my neck first.

And if I got away, then what? I have no gun and no money this time. No gear. And my hands are cuffed behind my back. If I run back to my cavern, he'll just come right back there and get me. And this time it might be Bonita that dies for me. Or Marcos. He might find The Temple of the Unnamable Gods.

I can never go back there. I'll put them all in danger if I do.

So there's really no chance of running. Hell, with my hands behind my back, I'm not sure I could even climb out of the cab without falling down.

The man gets in the truck and starts the engine.

The sun is setting now. In the distance, I see the bats flying across the desert. Out of their caverns. Out of my cavern.