2 Minutes to Midnight (23 page)

He turned on some music and the two drove in silence for twenty
minutes. Donald was getting curious about how close Sean's house
was when he began to doze off. In his nervousness, Sean forgot
about what Azazel had told him regarding the victim being conscious
at least most of the way to the cave.
"Almost there, my friend." Sean said.
"OK, good. You mind if I shut my eyes for a minute. I'm not on the
clock yet, am I?"
"Not until we get to my house." Sean answered.
With that, Donald fell fast asleep and the smile quickly faded from
Sean's face. Time to go.
Sean knew where to park, but as he turned off the engine he
remembered the victim was to remain conscious until they got to the
cave. He began to dread the mile or so walk back into some of the
darkest and thickest woods he had ever seen. His pulse quickened,
and he wiped sweat from his upper lip. Sean took the rope with him
and shoulder-carried the unconscious man as far as he could. Then
with the rope he brought he looped it under the man's armpits, and
began to drag him along the rough, root and brush covered ground.
It took him some time to drag Donald all the way back and by the
time he reached the cave entrance he was sweat covered and
exhausted. Sean's Xanax and peanut butter sandwich had knocked
Donald out so soundly that Sean began to wonder if the man had a
pulse. When next he looked up they were at the cave entrance. The
yawning mouth of a prehistoric monster.
Sean looked up and saw a symbol carved out of rock above the
entrance. Upon closer inspection he saw that it was the planet
Saturn, and on top of the planet was the imprint of a hexagon. He
dragged the unconscious Donald inside and as he did rocks on the
walls began to illuminate, lighting the way. They were cool to the
touch and had a supernatural glow. In a room at the back of this
cave the rocks lit up all around him from ceiling to floor, but the
brightness did not hurt his eyes. He saw an altar that had been
carved from red granite, and hoisted Donald on top of it. There was
a blade with strange runes marked on the handle lying there as
well, and as if he had done this a thousand times he began to
perform the ceremony Azazel had shown him how to execute. Sean
spoke the ceremonial words, and the cave walls began to hum and
vibrate like an electric transformer, the rocks glowed red and a
vortex of dark energy swirled on the wall before him.
Sean fell into a hypnotic trance as he watched the wall disappear
into a black hole as something began to move toward him from
within. Sean could also see Saturn's rings in the background as the
planet floated in a void. His ceremonial words completed, he rammed
the blade down into Donald's heart. A second later Azazel was
standing on the other side of the altar, grinning from ear to ear,
but as Sean came out of his trance he realized what he had done and
where he was and felt fear.
"Fear is good. It makes it easier to perform my work, Sean. Your
fear opens so many holes in your defense against us." Azazel told
him.
"What do you mean? When do I get my powers back? We had a deal,
right?" Sean was beginning to feel shame mixed with dread in the
presence of this demon.
The portal on the wall began to close, becoming fainter.
"I've made some amendments to the deal." Azazel said.
With that Azazel began to transform his features to look just like
Sean, and then he took Sean by the hand he had used to sacrifice
Donald and threw him into the fading vortex. Sean screamed as he
left his feet and flew toward oblivion.
"It's been so long since I've been back. Goodbye, Sean. Sweet
dreams."
Azazel closed the portal as Sean floated toward Saturn screaming
uncontrollably, and then he turned, walked out of the cave and with
a wave of his hand the rock wall sealed. The cave was gone, and as
he walked on in Sean's form, Azazel reveled at how easily humans
were controlled. This was going to be the most fun he had in
ages.

weird

Weird /wird/
adj.

1. Suggesting the
supernatural; unearthly
2. Strange; peculiar

Shaun had received a call from
Madeline two days ago telling him about the tunnel she had stumbled
upon during her research expedition in South Africa. She requested
that he join her, and that it was urgent, but hadn’t mentioned why.
The two had been dating for over a year, and although he had not
proposed marriage he had planned on doing it soon and also knew
that if Madeline called for his help he'd be there for her. She was
brief on the phone, but there were two things that stood out in his
mind about their conversation. She was scared, and she needed him
to come now.

Madeline had gone alone to
the Dark Continent to follow up on research regarding ancient
structures on the South African plain. A man by the name of Michael
Tellinger had been studying the round rock formations, and
determined that they were of intelligent design, and not a product
of nature, but what they had been used for was still a mystery to
him. Shaun remembered the conversation that had taken place just
before she left.
"Shaun, there are millions of these round structures on the ground
down there, and I don't think they're an accident. The way they're
shaped...I think they had something to do with energy production,
or mining, and Tellinger's the only one studying them. I'm going to
try to track him down while I'm there as well."
"Well, Madeline, there's nothing much to see. I've seen pictures of
them on the internet, and it all looks like a bunch of hut
foundations to me." Shaun replied.
"You admit that they
look
like homes or something close, right? The South
African government is saying that these were cattle stalls. I can't
believe Cattle stalls would be linked together in such a fashion.
It doesn't make sense."

"Well, I agree with you there. It
doesn't, I mean, they don't look like anything anymore. Are there
at least writings on the rocks? Something to tell you who built
them, or why?" Shaun asked.
"That's what I have to find out."

Tellinger had been studying the rock
circles on the ground, and taking aerial photographs of the
megalithic structures for several years--telling anyone who would
listen that they were there. And, since Madeline was a student of
archaeology this is what she had determined her doctoral thesis
would be about.

More than once her advisor had
explained such a paper was a foolish waste of time, and that it
would never get her anywhere, and there was no place in serious
archaeology for fairy tale theories. So, against the sage advice of
her academic advisor and professors she booked a flight and left
her home in Concord, North Carolina for the adventure of her life.
Shaun had not heard from her in a month, so the call was a welcome
surprise but the alarm in her voice made him fear for her. What had
she found out there?

Shaun got on the first flight leaving
for Cape Town, South Africa and in twenty-four hours he would be
closer to the root of this mystery. Soaring through the sky, his
excitement began to build as he flipped through the photographs of
stone circles captured from high above that he had downloaded to
his phone. Madeline had sent him the pictures weeks earlier, but he
had not given them much thought outside of admiring their unique
patterns. To him they still looked like a jumble of rocks that
someone had decided to stack together in a mish mash long ago. As
the plane touched down Shaun felt every joint in his body creak as
he exited into a loud airport filled with people bustling
by.

Madeline was there to greet him, the
two kissed, hugged, and then she led him to her Land Rover. Shaun
threw his bag into the back of her vehicle and jumped in while she
started the engine.

"It's so good to see you! I've been
working with some locals in my research out here, and they've been
life savers, but...it's just good to have you here," she
smiled.

"Yeah, I've missed you, too. You had
me worried when you called a few days ago. What's going
on?"

"I found something--a tunnel--under
one of those stone circles out there, and I was afraid to tell
anyone else about it. People go missing all the time while
finding...unusual things in my line of work," said
Madeline.

Shaun looked out the passenger window
at the small houses lining each side of a dirt road. The long
flight had sapped his energy, and very shortly he dozed off with
his head against the passenger door. As Madeline's Rover bumped and
jerked down a heavily rutted dirt road Shaun dreamed. He was naked
on a long metal table with tall gray beings surrounding him,
prodding, and poking him with various instruments in silence. He
asked who they were and received no reply. A bright white light
obscured their faces, but he could see their long fingers. The
experience was terrifying, realistic, and unlike other dreams he
had before, in this one he was experiencing real pain as they
performed mysterious procedures on him in what looked like a
surgical room. He screamed, and then as fast as it had begun it was
over. Shaun's eyes shot open, and he was back in the Land Rover
once again.

"Where'd you go, sleepyhead? You were
over there twitching and moaning in your sleep. I thought I was
going to have to pull over."

"Bad dream, I guess. Where are we?"
Shaun asked.

"We're almost there. You can't see the
circles from the ground, but I entered the location of my find into
the GPS."

"OK, you gotta' let me in on it at
least a little here. What's with all the mystery,
Madeline?"

"I was out in the fields trying to
understand why those stone circles could have been put here, when I
suddenly fell through one of them and found a tunnel opening. I
know it might sound crazy, but there was a rock there with some
strange markings and when I touched it my hand literally passed
right through. I was so shocked that I lost my balance and fell
forward. I passed right through the rocks, which were like some
kind of three-dimensional hologram."

"Well, that's interesting. Did you go
further into the tunnel? I mean, did you find anything in there?"
Shaun asked.

"I walked back until I hit a dead end
at the rock wall, but now I think it was a door. There were some
crystals embedded in the rock and when I hit the cones together
they began to glow. I was down there by myself, and completely
freaked out to begin with so I got the hell out of there and called
you. I've not been back down there since."

"What cones?"

"Oh, look in the back, on the floor,
there behind my seat. They're made of stone. You can't miss them,"
she said.

Shaun produced two small stone cones
that were just large enough to fit in the palm of his hand. He
turned them around for a minute and then gently clanged the two
together. They rang like a bell for several seconds and then
quieted.

"Hmmm, neat. So, I’m guessing we're
headed to the tunnel?"

"Yep. All I have to do is follow the
little blip on my GPS, and we're there. I'm parking a mile from it
just in case anybody comes along and gets curious. I don't want
anyone else knowing about this." Madeline explained.

"Wait, we're the only two people who
know we are out here? What if this thing is a booby trap, or some
kind of elaborate drug operation? Have any of these thoughts
entered your mind?"

"Actually, until you mentioned it, no.
Look, you can stay outside if you want to, but I thought you came
all this way because you wanted an adventure?" She said. He could
see disappointment forming in her eyes, like a storm.

Shaun could not argue that point. He
had not come to Africa for an adventure, but because Madeline was
in danger. But now that he was here, his curiosity and taste for
adventure had come alive. She was right and if he had to go back to
his hum drum life right now, without having followed this to the
end he would regret it. Madeline was not crazy, and he didn't
believe she was a fool either.
"You meet Michael Tellinger yet?" Shaun asked.
"Not yet, but this is a big country, and if it's meant to be, we'll
run into each other."

She pulled the vehicle over, cut the
engine, and got out. Shaun followed her up a small hill through a
group of boulders and stubby grassland. It was barren, wide open,
and kind of spooky out there.

"Don't enter one of the circles with
your electronic devices. I've have to buy two GPS units because of
their electromagnetic interference, and it's not easy to buy
equipment in this region." She shook her head. "For some reason,
once you enter one of the circles all electronics go
haywire."

Shaun followed her silently for
another half an hour taking in the scenery, and admiring how quiet
it was.

"Almost there. Oh, and there are some
tribes out this way but they're friendly." She waved
dismissively.

She searched around for a few more
moments and then knelt down beside a medium sized stone. Her hand
disappeared into the solid surface, and after turning to look back
at Shaun, she fell forward and was gone.

"Madeline!" He began to run.
"Madeline, where'd you go!?"

Shaun ran to the spot where she had
vanished and knelt down, just as her head suddenly popped into
view. "Holy Shit!" Shaun jumped.