World War S 3

Chapter 5

“I don’t know his real name. In fact, nobody knows it,”

answered Jabari, grinning.

John started to have a very bad feeling about this. He thought about Paul and Lylian, who were coming from the south, from Zambia, trying to reach the area. If all went well, they could have been somewhere at the border of Zambia or Malawi. I wonder if they would have had the same i***t guide …

After travelling several ten-kilometre roads, or maybe as much as hundred-kilometre roads—which were covered by red dust—they entered a difficult terrain. The old minibus stumbled through the mud pits as if it were the most astonishing attraction of the local roller coaster.

“Ouch!” Julie woke up when she hit her head on the window.

“Prepare yourself—we’ll have to continue on foot soon! We can’t go much farther in the car because the roads are soaked after the heavy rain. They don’t fill the potholes here like they do in Morristown,” Jabari said laughingly.

John looked at Julie meaningfully, and she shook her head, signalling that she hadn’t told Jabari where they came from.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” she whispered to John. “This man is not quite right in the head. He knows many things. Maybe now you’ll believe me.”

John didn’t want to agree because he didn’t want to believe that this odd-looking dark guy, who claimed that his magic came from the very same god who had been helping John. If anybody on this muddy planet were a friend of the devil, it would be this guy.

When he reached the end of his thoughts, they stopped moving. Or rather, the van ran into a pothole so deep that the vehicle almost turned on its side. And from that position there was no way out.

“Push it out!” Jabari issued the command, motivating them to get off. After thirty minutes floundering, they could not get any farther. They only managed to get covered up to their ears in dirt due to the spinning wheels.

“We continue on foot!” Jabari pointed forward to the hills covered with jungle and threw one of the tents at John’s feet.

“Take care, a lot of creeping, crawling, biting creatures live around here, types you don’t see in the New York zoo.”

John glanced at Julie again, who didn’t even look at him; she just picked up her backpack. This guy is the devil’s disciple, for sure!

They eventually lost track of how long they’d been marching. They left the manmade trails, and they pushed deep into the jungle. John had lost a lot of weight recently; the diet and exercise prescribed by Julie were having a positive effect on him, but the steep climb still tired him.

“Jabari!” he called to the leader, marching in front. Now he wanted to put an end to the mystery and know why they were still going north. He hadn’t even checked to see where the sun had set, but he didn’t want to end up in Kenya. “Where are you taking us?”

The witch doctor turned back indignantly and sliced some braches with his machete.

“I know that you have a task, man of God, to put your nose into everything because you think you are purer than any of us here, but I will prove to you that we are heading south. Our car is in the valley, and the sun went down behind the hill on the right only a few minutes ago—you couldn’t see that because of the thick vegetation. But if you wish, we’ll stop right here, and you can lead,” said Jabari, handing the machete to John.

John didn’t want to argue. He was forced to believe what the fetish king said, so he stuck the machete into the ground.

From that point on, they stopped talking. They concentrated only on descending the other side of the hill. John wondered what had made Julie come on this trip; he was sure that his only motivation was Paul and that kobold standing at the end of his bed that one night. But what was Julie’s? Was it still the search for the soul—which, according to her, was capable of living without the body? Was this the reason she was interested in the magic and all that other hocus-pocus?

He watched her leg slipping in the mud, and he thought to reach out and help her, but Julie would surely refuse him; she would consider it as an advance. And she would not be so far from the truth.

“This will be perfect,” said Jabari, turning around. He looked high at the pollards of the trees, examining the safety of the place. He must have known what he was looking for. To John, this place was as good as any other in a hundred-metre radius.

“We’ll place the tents here. You two, I guess, would be okay in the same spot,” Jabari said, glancing at Julie, smudging his hand meaningfully.

“What did he mean by that?” asked John, but in fact he didn’t mind the common tent. His only objection was that he didn’t want to assume Julie would be comfortable with the idea of sleeping together.

“Don’t worry about him!” Julie flashed her eyes at him while he opened the bag and removed the tent. “He’s making fun of you. He couldn’t see into you, and it disturbed him.”

“And don’t you have a problem with the fact that he could see into your mind?” John asked, frowning. “Because I’m so fed up with his anticipations.”

As John and Julie had no experience in setting up a camp, it took nearly forty-five minutes till the campfire was blazing. According to Jabari, not only could tin cans be warmed in that fire but also green leaves that kept the bloodsucking bugs away with the thick smoke. The food from the tin was warm but taste-less, although neither John nor Julie said a word. Then Jabari made a local tea-like infusion. John wanted to believe it was tea, but he only drank after Jabari took the first sip.

In the middle of the night the storm arrived, the one responsible for the mudslide. The undergrowth was much weaker on that side of the hill where they descended, so it probably could not keep the upper ground layer in place.

But before the storm, Julie and John ran into their tent, and their guides left the nearby campfire blazing with the help of a little petroleum, despite the rain. Then John fell into a deep sleep. He dreamt crazy things; rambling, incoherent pictures stormed in front of his eyes, but finally they formed a fairly believable story. Paul and Lylian were in the dream. They sat in a four-wheel drive, approaching the circular village described by Josh. They had been led to a huge iron gate, behind which someone waited for them. It was a familiar face …

No, this is not possible, the realization struck John as he thought back on his dream with this unbelievable picture. I’m mixing reality with the scenes of the dream. This person in the dream should not be there …

And behind that gate was a high-backed armchair, and in the middle of its seat was a charred pile of human ashes, with a disjointed human arm on its wide armrest.

No. This is not possible. It is truly the revenge of the disjointed arm.

That was the moment when his always well-dressed man—his supposed guardian angel—had slapped him awake.

But he’s not here now, John thought, holding the diamond-studded grip of Jabari’s pistol. Stuck in the mud up to his waist, he was totally exhausted, and he could not stay awake any longer, although the sun was on its way to striking through the gaps in the clouds, shedding light on his miserable situation.

*

“You were fantastic! You became the queen of the spiritualists again!” said Phil, opening his arms wide as Sue entered backstage. The audience called her back at least six times with slow claps and each time she had to call up another person to the stage. Then they’d finally let her go. But the crowd was still murmuring, and shouts came from different ends of the stadium, calling out to thank her.

“Listen to their gratitude,” Phil said of the voices coming from behind the curtain. “You gave hope to many, that there is another world where their loved ones are waiting for them.”

Sue knew that very well, since she had been the recipient of such gratitude for many years. But she didn’t want to ride on a high horse since her producer had so carefully prepared everything. And she hadn’t even used the help of those cowled monkeys—the earthly representatives of the new church.

“Phil, I have to admit that you have surprised me. I didn’t think you could surpass Jim’s professionalism, but you succeeded,” she complimented, smiling at the man and extending her hand. “And I thank you.”

Phil accepted the handshake, seeming to appreciate it. He was still a beginner, but he’d passed the first test.

“Oh, and there is somebody waiting for you in your caravan,” Phil said. He bid her good-bye and walked off towards the staff.

Who could it be? Maybe Jim, coming to congratulate me—or to have his revenge and make a mess?

She wanted to have some type of foreboding about this guest, or at least to sense who it was because she didn’t want any more surprises. But no information could reach her till she touched the door handle of the caravan. There, the faint intuition turned into an immerse fear, which made her stop. She must have gathered all her previous motivation from the successful show to compose herself again and finally enter the caravan.

“Oh, Master …” she said, bowing her head when he saw Janusz Malaszin sitting in the chair in front of the dressing table. The man was surrounded by such an intense invisible cloud that Sue had to cover all her spiritual eyes and ears to avoid becoming spiritually blind and deaf from the clamour.

But suddenly everything was silenced. The Master could have closed the channels with a single thought to allow them a calm conversation.

“Bravo!” he said, laughing and clapping rhythmically. “I’ve already made myself comfortable, but take this applause as a long standing ovation.”

Sue slowly regained control over her body and her senses and let a faint smile play at her lips.

“Thank you,” she said, bowing again. “I always appreciate your compliments.

“Your service deserves it. You successfully pulled yourself out of the ditch and adapted to the changing circumstances, which is evidence of your great self-control.”

Sue didn’t dare think about anything, as she knew the Master could read her mind through the spiritual channels. She had only the quick flash of thought, regretting that she ever tolerated Sidney displacing her from the Master’s affections.

“I’m so grateful for all you’ve done for me and my family.”

The Master absentmindedly rocked himself in his chair. His highly polished shoes creaked on the wooden floor of the luxury caravan.

“I felt your gratitude. That’s why I brought you a guest!” he shouted as the bathroom door flung open and Kathy ran out of it.

“Surprise!” Kathy yelled and jumped into Sue’s arm. Sue felt an even more horrific fear than before she’d entered the caravan.She should have been overjoyed, but instead she gasped for breath.

“Mummy, are you okay?” Kathy asked anxiously.

“No … just the power of surprise …” she lied. She would never have wanted Kathy actually in contact with the Master. She would never have delivered her into the hands of the darkness, but Kathy now stood in front of her, without Joe, alone with the dark cloud.

“Oh, don’t do this! Be happy! Mr Malaszek came to pick me up with his private jet and brought me to your first séance. I watched all of it! Don’t worry, you were great!”