Exodus 2022 (50 page)

“You saved me,” he whispered, “I’m okay, I think.”

She nodded, tears still glistening in her perfect green eyes. “I love you, Joe Stanton.”

“Ella—”

“I love you and always will. You must know that.”

“Ella. We can go now, right? Cross through? Ella, what’s wrong?”

The veil between worlds shimmered not an arm’s length from Joe—a wonder beyond imagination. And if he’d been studying it now he would have noticed that the curtain of light was thinning, fading, as the last stragglers on the plain bolted across. If he’d been paying attention he would have seen that the chasm—a mere two feet wide for most of the Exodus—was growing now, as if the momentarily rejoined worlds were preparing to slide apart. To separate for another hundred or thousand or million years.

Joe saw none of it, though, because all of his attention was on the woman standing before him. On his friend. His partner. His lover. The one he cared about more than any other. Alarms rang in his brain, loud now. She was afraid. Sad. Not for him but for the two of them.

“Ella—”

Joe sensed Beck, approaching like a shadow, bumping into the veil, warping it, distorting it.

“Ella—”

She touched his cheek with one hand, shining tears in her eyes. “No time,” she said. “Listen to me.”

Joe nodded, shaking now.

“You
are
healing. Will continue to heal, in the new world, and there only. Other people are passing through this day. A few who see things clearly. You will find them.”

“We’ll find them,” Joe said. “Let’s go.” He grabbed Ella’s hand, intending to pull her forward, into the new realm. But she moved not at all.

And then Beck’s voice was booming out behind them, saying what sounded like a name, an ancient name, a jumble of syllables lost in the wind. “Yes!” he cried. “Lead. Lead so that I may follow, as ordained in laws older than time.”

The awful ring of Beck’s voice died away and the luminous veil continued to fade.

Ella pulled Joe close, kissed him deeply, and then she was stepping away, and the hiker was there, taking Joe by the arm, turning him, pulling him, leaping with him, over the widening gap.

Joe hit the veil and felt suddenly weightless. As if he were frozen and hovering in an ocean of light, a newborn galaxy of a million, billion stars. Time passed—it might have been seconds or hours or days—and then he and the hiker were coming down on the far side of the veil, landing in soft grass, the air warm and fragrant, creatures fanning out all around. They stumbled a few paces and Joe spun to see Ella, still on the other side, watching him. And the truth pierced his heart like a dagger.

Ella saw Joe spin free of the hiker and rush back, toward the veil, but there was no passage that direction. Not today. She tried to touch his hand through the shimmering curtain. Saw him cry her name but no longer could hear his voice.

Then she felt Beck moving close and she sent Joe one final thought.
I love you, Joe. I always will.

Beck spoke, five paces away now, and there was a quiver in his voice that hadn’t been there before. A touch of doubt—though he tried to conceal it. “Lead,” he said, “So that I may claim my place in the new land.”

Ella turned. Said nothing.

“Delay is no good,” Beck sneered. “Where you go, I may follow. You know this. Haloed light. Deadly dark. I am half of the equation. There is not one without the other. Immutable and older than either of us is the maxim.”

Ella lifted her eyes to his. “What you say is true. Where I go, you may follow.”

Beck’s face twisted into a grin.

Ella turned back and saw that the veil was almost gone. The chasm had widened and the view into the new land was growing faint now. Indistinct.

“Where I go, you may follow,” she said again. “And this time, I’m not going.”

The veil winked and Beck screamed, sprinted forward, and leapt into the air, clawing at nothing. He hung there, a moment, as the last trace of the shimmering archway vanished in the sunrise. And then the cliff—the Buffalo Jump—was there once more and he was falling. Falling—not into a new world but to the rocks eight hundred feet below.

The thing that had subsumed Beck’s mind and soul fled shrieking as he fell, and Beck the man saw what had transpired the instant before he died.

Ella pulled back, shaking, from the brink of the Buffalo Jump, a woman once more, the woman she had always been—the power briefly bestowed upon her now gone.

With fresh tears in her eyes, she made for the trail, hoping to find her way home.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading EXODUS 2022. I hope you enjoyed the story. I welcome and appreciate honest reviews so please take a moment to share your thoughts on Goodreads and on the site where you purchased the book. Also, please feel free to get in touch with me at
[email protected]
. My author website address is
www.kennethgbennettbooks.com
, and we can also connect on Twitter at
@kennethgbennett
and on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/Exodus2022
.

This book has many friends. My sincerest thanks to the story’s early readers: Randy Nargi, Jerry Brown, Mark Slater, Debbie Allbritton, Bill Harper, Chad Cary, Suzanne Cary, Carolyn Greer, Larry Weiner, Melissa Morris, and Joanne Moudy. On matters police and FBI, I am indebted to Matt Cary. Thanks also to Schuyler Boone for his advice on navy and sonar issues. To Susan and Eli: thank you for your encouragement, patience and unwavering support. I would not have made it to the end without your help. My gratitude to you all.

PROOFREADING: Toddie Downs

PUBLICATION MANAGEMENT: Christina Boyd

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT: Vanya Drumchiyska

Cathedral of Dreams
by Terry Persun
(Science Fiction) A compelling tale of a dystopian future and personal heroism, pitting the outsiders against the mind-control machine of New City.

The Water Sign
by C.S. Samulski
(Science Fiction) In the post-diluvian world of the future many children find themselves lost in the fog of war.

Phobia
by Daniel Lance Wright
(Thriller) Heights, crowds, small spaces... How does a psychologist handle three phobia sufferers on a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico when the ship is overtaken by Lebanese terrorists?

No Shelter from Darkness
by Mark D. Evans
(Paranormal) In the post-Blitz East End of London, orphaned teenager Beth Wade is bullied for looking different. But it goes far deeper than looks. With a growing thirst for blood and the arrival of a man who could kill her just as easily as help her, Beth must fight for control of her life... and of herself.

Discover more books and learn about our new approach to publishing at
www.booktrope.com

Kenneth G. Bennett is an author and wilderness enthusiast who spends his free time backpacking, skiing and kayaking. Ken lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and son and two hyperactive Australian Shepherds. His other books include the YA novels THE GAIA WARS and BATTLE FOR CASCADIA. THE GAIA WARS series was optioned for film by Identity Films, LA in 2012, and both GAIA and BATTLE have been featured as Top 100 Bestsellers in Teen Literature and Fiction on Amazon.