The Pale Man Rises

CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

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She could hear them above as their feet scraped the pavement. If she looked further out toward the woods on this side of the road she could see the blue beam of the patrol car's lights as it flashed over the trees. One would think that its continuing presence would somehow give her comfort in that it was a symbol of authority, but its brief flashing over the greenish brown and drying trees only served to remind her of the terrible predicament she was in.

She clinched her eyes closed wanting to blind herself from the misery that was at hand. But somehow the reasoned and sensible portion of her brain asserted itself in this time of crisis. "Lift your head and listen to what they say–it may save your life! OPEN YOUR EYES!" Those were the silent, insistent orders Shelby Jean heard inside her head. She knew she had to obey them.

"STOP THAT THING!" The pale man yelled in yet another of his gruesome voices. It was harsh and menacing. She then heard the cruiser's door being opened and then the pounding of metal. And now she saw that the blue light of the vehicle ceased its endless throbbing.

"He was not alone." the pale man now said. "I saw no one master, I heard no one." Clay Reese said. "I saw no one either master." Daniel Meeker agreed. He swayed on rubbery legs still groggy from the blow to his temple, which he kept a hand over.

"Let's leave here master?" Meeker now implored the pale man his pain quite apparent in his words. "Master my head hurts!" He then cried giving voice to his sorrow. "We should leave, we should leave. We must attend to him–and it's getting very cold!" a newly pragmatic Reese warned. And now the fact that he was growing increasingly aware of just how cold it was proved to be very revealing. 

 The pale man moved to the bridge abutment now and then looked out onto the dark forest before him. He was very eager to get to the Black Swamp. The image of the forest made him nostalgic for the dark places within it. He leaned on the concrete barrier his amber eyes fully open now in the snowy black night. He brushed off some of the snow that had accumulated on the concrete. It plopped into the water of the stream below and immediately melted. 

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Below him beneath the bridge Shelby Jean eased herself as close to the edge of its shadow as she could get and thus could see those above if they had positioned themselves so that their reflection fell into the water. She could see the arrogance of the beast in those horrible eyes as they searched all about. His head was a great white flaring ball that hung in orbit on a black canvas. "Inside the machine–the scent of a female, it is strong." he said and then he turned around and pointed at the cruiser. "It is in the air nearby." he said. Both of his companions then turned themselves and they also looked at the vehicle. "He may have stopped a woman earlier–you'll concede the odor could possibly be lingering from another time won't you?" Reese asked him.

The pale man looked at him angrily. He could divine that this slave was now once more changing, moving yet again to the next phase of his development or unraveling so to speak. It was the release of yet more adrenaline into his system, which brought about these changes and their slaughter of those on the bus, had driven the chemical in great torrents throughout his body as they had done this. And he knew this new phase would likely push him to total rebellion that he may not be able to complete the journey they were on. Regardless he knew he must soon deal with Clay Reese.

He turned angrily toward the young man again. And then Reese heard his father's voice. "Nonsense–I smell it now on the wind! Clay you try my patience–don't question me, don't forget who is the master here!" he said stabbing a long accusing finger at him.

Reese slid slowly backward near cringing from the pale man's angry words. But he was not as hurt by the outburst as he had been before, in fact he had expected it. It seemed to him that the only reaction the master ever had for him now were angry ones fraught with threat and intimidation. He began to ponder the likelihood of his survival once their party reached their destination, wherever that might be. Or would he even make it to the end of the journey?