The Altar (30 page)

The thing suddenly looked terrified and weak.

“You have no more power, here or anywhere,” Erik said. “In the name of Christ, be gone.”

The thing’s eyes went wide and glazed over. Then fire began to consume it, beginning at its feet and working its way up. It burned away to nothing, from the bottom up, until only the bloated head remained, perched on a pyre of flame. The monster screamed once, and then exploded in a meteor shower of red and white sparks. When the smoke cleared, it was gone. All that remained were a few ashes that slowly floated to the ground, where they quickly blended away into the black sand.

Erik watched in stunned silence. The monster was gone. But Dovecrest’s torn body still lay on the ground, shrouded in a yellow glow. Then the glow brightened, giving him an angelic appearance. Although cleaved, his body appeared pieced together, and the Indian stood and looked at his friends. His smile was huge and genuine and he seemed totally free from pain.

“Follow your instincts to escape,” he said. “God will show you the way.” Then his body shot off like a lightening bolt and was gone.

“Did he go to heaven?” Todd asked.

“Yes,” Erik replied. “He’s with his family now.”

“And so aren’t we.”

“Right. Now I think we have to get the hell out of here. Pardon the pun.”

Follow your instincts, Dovecrest had said. The Lord would show the way. Erik took a moment to look around in every direction, scanning the horizon for a sign, any sign at all. There seemed to be nothing. The same old plain monotonous landscape.

Strangely enough, the baby saw it first and begin pointing. Todd called to his father and showed him. Erik didn’t think babies could respond so quickly, but this one was definitely pointing to a single bright star that had appeared in the horizon.

“Look, it’s like the star or Bethlehem,” Todd said.

Erik nodded. Something told them they needed to leave while the getting was good.

“Are you up to walking?” Erik asked Vickie.

“I’ll try.”

“Are you up to being carried then?”

Before she could answer he had carefully picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

“Come on,” he said. “It’ll be like following the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz.”

“It’s not actually a road, Dad.”

“No, but it’ll give us a roadway. Hurry!”

They passed the empty stretches quickly now—even here in hell it seemed to take less time to go home than what it did to get there, he thought. They made it back to the entranceway, and then into the huge funnel leading back to where they had come from. Vickie was getting heavy and difficult to carry up the incline, but he knew she was so weak that she’d hold them behind and he had a strong feeling that their window of opportunity was quickly closing.

Climbing up the funnel was more difficult that coming down. Not only was the climb steep, but Erik carried his wife and Todd carried his baby sister. They were running on sheer adrenaline now, pumped up with the knowledge that they might actually be able to escape this ordeal after all. His arms were aching, his lungs were burning and he didn’t know what would happen next when he got to the top.

Slowly, he climbed up over the lip to the spot where they had entered originally. He looked in every direction. Solid rock walls surrounded him on all sides, circling the pit and even covering the top. It seemed that, once again, they were trapped with nowhere to go. He placed Vickie carefully down on the rocky ground and sighed.

“There just doesn’t seem to be a way out of this mess,” he said.

“It’s ok, Dad. Just wait. Something will happen.”

He nodded. “I guess we have to have faith.” And he put his arms around Vickie. He knew she was so weak and needed a doctor, but there was nothing else to do but hold her.

“Look, Dad. Something’s happening.”

Erik looked up. Sure enough, of the walls had began to glow in a soft, yellow light. It became progressively brighter and took on the form of a portal, almost. The light intensified more, until it almost hurt the eyes with its radiance.

“What is it?” Vickie asked.

Erik stood up and took a step forward, but the light burned too brightly, like a welding torch and he had to step back.

“It’s the Indian,” Todd said.

Johnny Dovecrest stepped to the edge of the doorway and smiled. He was young now, and beside him was his wife and his children. They were all young and happy as they embraced.

“It’s ok now,” Dovecrest said. His voice was very far off, as if coming from a long way off. But the words were crystal clear.

Then a small cat walked out between the Indian’s feet and meowed softly. Dovecrest bent down and picked the creature up and stroked it gently on the ears.

“Faith!” Todd said. “Faith is in heaven too.”

Dovecrest nodded and spoke again, but he was too far away now to hear and already the white images were dissolving. Just before he went he pointed to the opposite wall.

“Hurry, there are people on the other side waiting for you,” he said, and then he was gone.

Erik turned and looked to where the Indian had pointed. Another door had opened up. This one was more mundane—it was simply an oblong opening cut into the rock. Erik looked through it and saw the morning sky.

“It’s the altar,” he said. “From the other side. Hurry up. We’ve got to get through quickly before it closes.”

The opening felt like a magnetic force that was repelling them rather than attracting them.

“It’s trying to keep us in,” he said. “We can’t let it. Todd, hold the baby tight.”

Erik dragged his son to the edge of the opening and forcibly pushed. The opening pushed back for a moment, and then something seemed to pop, and he and the baby slipped through. He picked up Vickie in his arms and walked deliberately towards it. It was like walking into hurricane force winds, but he closed his eyes and walked on, determined.

“Did you see a glimpse of heaven?” Vickie asked softly.

“Yeah,” he said. “Just a tiny corner. It was beautiful.”

“Yes. It was,” she said.

Then they were outside, standing on the top of the altar stone surrounded by a hundred soldiers with rifles leveled at them.

Pastor Mark walked forward and hugged them both. “Boy, am I glad to see you,” he said.

“And I am glad to see you,” Erik said. “It is so good to be home.”

EPILOGUE

AUGUST 2003

Erik watched as the backhoe dumped the last of the fill into the yellow dump truck. The altar had been blown into a million pieces by the military, and now it was all being gathered up, collected, and shipped somewhere. Erik didn’t know where, but he hoped it was somewhere safe. Knowing the military, it would wind up in a government lab somewhere where it would never be seen or heard of again. If you wanted to really lose something, he thought, just put it in a government file.

July had been the worst month of his life. His home had been turned into a battlefield. He’d lost his cat, and now had no desire for a new one. He’d lost his new friend, Johnny Dovecrest, whom he would have liked to have spent more time with. He had seen his wife and son tortured, and had endured the worst despair and torment that hell could possible dish out this side of judgment day. He’d seen more death, destruction, and anguish in just one short month than most people would see in two lifetimes.

He just hoped and prayed that it was over and that he could pull his life back together.

There had been some positive things, though. His daughter, Faith, was doing well. They hadn’t intended naming her that, but somehow it seemed appropriate for what had happened. Faith the cat was in heaven, so it was time for a little more Faith on earth.

He had been to hell and back, but he’d also caught a glimpse of heaven, just a tiny, miniscule corner, but it had been enough. He knew that’s where he belonged and where he wanted to be. He’d tried to explain the things he’d seen to Pastor Mark, but the words just wouldn’t come. He couldn’t describe the glow or the peace or the joy that had emanated through. Finally, he had given up trying.

“They have cats there,” he said finally, as if that could capture it all. Mark was more of a dog lover, though, so Erik didn’t think he would ever really understand until he went there for himself.

Erik smiled and waved at the truck driver as he backed up and pulled away. They’d planned to level this site completely and turn it into a nature walk and a bird sanctuary. This would be a small picnic site, a peaceful contrast to what it had stood for in the past. Erik didn’t think he’d use it himself, but it would be nice to have other families come here and help mend the ground of this place.

Erik turned away and began the short walk home. Vickie and Todd and Faith were waiting for him. They were going to take a short vacation north, to the mountains in New Hampshire. After that, maybe he’d think about his next book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Arthur Anderson
currently teaches writing and literature at Johnson & Wales University’s North Miami Campus at the rank of Professor. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island, where he specialized in horror and science fiction, and the work of H. P. Lovecraft. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Florida Memorial University, where he teaches creative writing and advanced literature.

His science fiction and fantasy stories have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including
Horrors!: 365 Scary Stories
;
Weird Tales 4
;
Swords Against Darkness V
;
Fantasy Tales
, and others. He has also published poetry, nonfiction, and scholarly pieces, including
Out of the Shadows: A Structuralist Approach to Understanding the Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
, also from The Borgo Press.

Dr. Anderson lives in South Florida with his wife Lynn, three spoiled cats, and two spoiled horses. In his free time he can be found target shooting at the Hollywood Rifle and Pistol Club, or riding his Paso Fino
Ilucion
(“Lucy”) at Southwest Ranches Equestrian Club.