Another Everybody Lies in Hell excerpt
Oneof my squatters who acted as a cabdriver and went by the name of Edwin usuallykept his yellow cab at the corner of Pierrepont and Hicks. All I could do washope he was there now. As I ran thunder exploded beside me as if bombs werebeing tossed at me, but what was coming my way was a hell of a lot deadlier andscarier than any bomb.
Ididn’t look back as I ran. I knew I’d see more of Brooklyn melting away andbeing replaced by a desolate mountain terrain, and in the middle of all this AlZaoud and his horde of murderous cutthroats would be riding their demonstallions at full gallop. In my mind’s eye I could imagine those horses’ eyesshining bloodred and froth pouring from their mouths and steam blowing out oftheir flaring nostrils. I knew they still had to be a half mile or more away,but I couldn’t shake this sensation of them being directly behind me. I could almostfeel on the back of my neck the pungent steam that they’d be exhaling; a steamthat would smell no different than burning sulfur.
Iwanted to kiss Edwin full on the lips when I saw him sitting in his cab where Ihoped it would be, and given that he resembled a bloated bullfrog with a reallybad complexion, that was saying something. I jumped in the back of his cab andtold him to start driving. “Go over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan and headuptown towards the Bronx,” I ordered him breathlessly. “And there’s an extrafifty for you if you ignore the speed limits.”
“Unusualweather we’re having,” he stammered out dumbly, his reflection in the rearviewmirror showing a dead fish paleness to his face, his eyes wide open but withlittle life in them. Squatters have a defense mechanism where they go catatonicwhenever they’re confronted with the fact that the reality they’ve adoptedisn’t real. He was close to shutting down, but I didn’t have time to pull himout of the driver’s seat and take his place. I looked behind me and could seethat the Brooklyn landscape was erasing quickly. Al Zaoud and his horde wereclose enough now that I could make out the severed heads tied to their horses’manes.
“Ifyou don’t start driving now I’ll put a bullet in the back of your skull,” Iyelled at Edwin. “I swear to God I will!”
“Jesus, what’s the rush?” he muttered halfunder his breath. Even if he looked directly at Al Zaoud and his murderoushorde he wouldn’t acknowledge their existence. But he pulled away from the curband headed toward the bridge and away from Al Zaoud. He wasn’t going nearlyfast enough but at least he was moving. I reached over the back of his seat andpinched the top of his right ear and gave it a hard twist.
“Ow!”he cried.
“Giveit more gas or I’ll bloody rip your ear off!”
Hegave it more gas and the tires squealed. Al Zaoud was still gaining on us asmore of my Brooklyn faded from sight, but at least we were moving now at a morereasonable speed. At least we had a chance. If Al Zaoud’s reality causes aravine or mountain to materialize in his path, that would slow the bastard downenough where I might be able to escape him. Still, though, the buffer betweenus was disappearing quickly, and if something didn’t change it would only be amatter of seconds before I’d be pulled into his godforsaken reality.
“Youbetter damn well floor it! And if you as much as touch the brakes I’ll fuckingkill you!”
“Jesus,Mike, what’s gotten into you?” Edwin cried, but the taxi leapt forward as hepushed down on the gas pedal. The car did a little side-to-side jig as healmost crashed up, but he got it back under control and had it speeding overthe bridge. We were maybe three quarters over it when the other end of thebridge faded away, replaced by Al Zaoud’s hellish world. I watched as one ofthe zombies jumped from the middle of the bridge but never made it into theEast River as he disappeared beneath the rocky terrain that replaced my reality.I guess given a choice of being drowned in the river or crushed under tons ofrock and soil there wouldn’t be much of a difference as far as that zombie wasconcerned
Edwinhad the cab shaking again as he almost lost control for a second time. “I’m gonnacrash up with the way you’re making me drive,” he cried out.
“Don’tyou dare slow down!”
Hedidn’t slow down, but he started blubbering. “The cops are going to throw me injail and take away my hack license. I don’t know what I’ll do without my hacklicense. Jesus, Mike, you’re killing me here.”
Ilaughed at that. A nervous, excitable, near hysterical laugh. It wasn’t me thatwas going to be killing him. If Al Zaoud caught up to us, it would be that crazymedieval warlord killing him for all eternity. And besides, my reality didn’thave any squatters acting like cops, at least none that I’d ever seen, so hehad nothing to worry about on that front.
“Letme deal with any cops, you concentrate on getting us the hell out of here.”
“What’sthe rush? For Chrissakes, what’s the rush?”
I didn’t bother answering him as he continued toblubber away, but I did let out my breath when I saw that we caught a break. Aravine appeared between us and Al Zaoud. It wasn’t steep enough to stop him forlong, but it would slow him down, maybe enough for me to escape him.
