The Portal ~ Large Print (15 page)

V
ivian raced onto
the front balcony. A large beam of light stopped her cold. On the lawn, dozens of officers took cover behind their open car doors with their weapons aimed at her. Behind a row of sculpted bushes, more gunfire rattled. 

Finally. The police were chasing Jarod. Could she trust them? Not yet. There was still too much confusion. Besides, an army couldn’t protect her from that monster. She needed to find Erika and disappear before Jarod had a chance to regroup.

“Drop your weapon,” someone said over a PA system.

“Hold your fire.” Detective Torres pulled her back. “She’s one of the hostages.”

“Get your hands off me,” she said.

“You’re going to get yourself killed.” He unstrapped the gun from her neck.

“Where’s my son?” She moved into a torrential downpour that drenched her with freezing rain.

Torres followed behind. “Slow down.”

“I warned you what was going to happen.”

“You need medical attention.”

Although her shoulder and neck ached from Jarod’s bite, her strength was returning. Two officers raced forward. They smothered her with a blanket and pulled her across the waterlogged grass, behind the line of police cars.

“Get a medic over here,” Torres said to them.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just find Jarod.”

“SWAT is on it. That cop killer won’t make it through the night.”

“You’re wrong,” she told him. “You need to warn your men that Jarod can’t be killed now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I just shot him in the head, and that didn’t stop him.”

A strange look crossed his face. Screw him if he thought she was crazy. He must’ve seen Jarod’s transformation. Only an idiot wouldn’t listen now.

All around, haphazard cars parked with their siren lights flashing. Officers ran every direction.

“Where is my son?” she demanded.

“Being evacuated.” He pointed to a helicopter that had landed on the grass in the middle of the circular driveway. “I don’t want you to panic, but we’re flying him to Trinity Medical.”

“What?” she asked. “What happened?”

Rain poured over his face. He looked as though he didn’t know what to say, but she already knew the answer.

He’s coming soon
.

She turned and splashed across the lawn. Mister Vincent was coming. There was no doubt that’s what Jarod had meant.

She raced under the wind of the helicopter’s whipping blades. Torres opened the rear door. Inside the fuselage, Erika held Cody in the far window seat with her right hand raised. It was wrapped in gauze. Another officer, who barely looked old enough to drink, sat behind her. In the cockpit, the pilot flipped some switches and muttered into his headset.

“Thank God,” Erika said.

“What’s going on?” Vivian stepped into the cargo hold. “Is he hurt?”

“Little man,” Erika said over the high-pitched whine of the engines. “Mommy’s here.”

Vivian took him from her. His eyes were still closed, but he was hyperventilating.

“It’s okay, sweetie.” She dried his hair with the police blanket wrapped around his body.

“They tried to take him from me.” Erika flashed the cop in the backseat a dirty look.

“You three will be safe now,” Torres said.

“Jarod,” Vivian told him. “Warn your men.”

“We’re on it,” he said, but she could tell he wasn’t really listening. He turned to the officer behind her. “Their lives are in your hands, Franklin.”

He slid the rear door shut and slapped the chassis.

As the helicopter lifted off, she kissed Cody’s forehead. They knew about Jarod now. The police knew, but what could she do about Mister Vincent?

“Cody’s strong.” Erika had always been able to read her mind.

“I know, it’s just—” She blinked back her tears. “I don’t even know what we’re dealing with. And now that Jarod’s changed, I don’t think he can be killed.”

“Back inside, you told that white-haired prick that you’d shot Jarod. That he was almost dead, right?”

“I put a bullet in his lung. I thought for sure he was gone.”

“That doesn’t sound too invincible to me.”

“My God,” Vivian said. So much had happened, she hadn’t had time to put it together. The only reason she didn’t kill Jarod earlier tonight was because of Cody.

“He’ll change back soon enough,” Erika said. “Just like before.”

“Next time,” Vivian said. “I’ll put one between his eyes.”

The helicopter dipped, leveled off, and vibrated. She looked out the windshield. Ahead, dark storm clouds formed a massive funnel. Lightning branched at its epicenter. Miles below, several freeways formed thin veins of light that crisscrossed the terrain.

“Nothing to worry about,” Officer Franklin said behind her. “Just a little turbulence.”

“How close are we to the hospital?” she asked the pilot, but he didn’t respond. “Excuse me.” She leaned forward and tapped his shoulder.

“Soon.” He barely turned his head. Something felt wrong. Then she noticed his hair creeping from underneath his helmet. It was white. Immediately, she turned to Franklin.

“I have to see his face,” she said.

“What’s going on?” Erika asked.

“The pilot,” Vivian said. “He tried to kill us tonight.”

“Ted Riley has been with the department since I was a kid,” Franklin said.

“It’s not Ted Riley,” Vivian told him.

“You need to calm down,” he said.

“Don’t tell us to calm down.” Erika turned around. “Do your damn job.”

“Fine.” Officer Franklin crouched and moved to the front of the cab. He spoke to the pilot, who unstrapped his helmet and pulled it off. The middle-aged man looked back with a round face and moist eyes. His hair hadn’t even grayed. It was blond.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s been a long night.” Officer Franklin waved it away and retook his seat. “Better to be safe.”

Something popped behind her. Wind began whipping her hair. The engines roared. She spun around and saw the back window was missing.

A blur skittered past the window. She pulled Erika toward the center of the cab.

“What is it?” Erika asked.

“Something’s outside.” Vivian set Cody on the floor and covered him with her body.

“Both of you stay down.” Franklin pulled his gun and spun around, aiming at every window.

“What’s going on?” the pilot yelled back. “What happened?”

“Find a place to set down.” Franklin held onto straps that were connected to the roof for balance.

Vivian strained to see any movement. Every few seconds, lightning branched around them, and she realized that they were approaching the storm’s epicenter. Suddenly, Jarod’s face filled the window. He somehow clung to the outside of the fuselage.

“Behind you,” Erika shouted.

Jarod punched out the glass, dug his claw underneath Franklin’s chin, and yanked him. Vivian grabbed his feet, but they slipped from her grasp. He disappeared out the window. Jarod, too, was nowhere to be seen.

Underneath the cab, muffled sounds of shearing metal. Was Jarod tearing the helicopter apart? That didn’t make sense. If they crashed, everyone could die. Mister Vincent wanted Cody alive. Didn’t he?

“How far until the hospital?” Vivian shouted over the whine of wind and engine.

“Ten minutes,” Riley said.

“Can we call for backup?” She picked up Franklin’s gun from the floor.

“The radio’s down,” Riley said. “I can’t make contact.”

The lights of civilization converged along the dark coastline ahead of them. Was that Santa Barbara? Ventura? It didn’t matter. Their lives depended on reaching that city.

“Shit,” Riley said. “The oil pressure is dropping. I have to make an emergency landing.”

“You can’t put this down.” She realized Jarod’s plan. Crashing the helicopter wasn’t the goal. If so, why not just kill the pilot? He was forcing them to land. “We have to get to civilization or he’ll kill us all.”

“This isn’t a plane,” Riley shouted. “We’ll drop like stone when the engines fail. That’s if the weather doesn’t take us out first.”

“Then fly close to the beach. We can set down there if we have to.”

“Fuck me!” He jerked back in his chair.

Through the windshield, she saw Jarod’s talon latch onto the hood from underneath the nose section. He gripped the helicopter’s metal skin, shredding it like clay.

Almost every second now, lightning strobed his body. His shoeless feet, with those same fishhook claws, left a trail of puncture marks torn through the metal in his wake as he climbed up the nose section.

“Stay low in case we crash,” Vivian shouted. She raised her gun but didn’t dare take the shot. The turbulence was too severe. What if the bullet struck the rotor blades?

Jarod clutched the hood with two feet and an arm. He reared back and punched the Plexiglas windscreen back against Riley, who banked hard right. The chopper tilted sideways.

Erika held Cody in her arms as she slid. Lodged between the seats, Vivian held them both against the floor. A first aid kit fell through the missing side window, just inches from Erika’s feet. The helicopter righted.

“He’s still on board,” Riley shouted.

Looking up, she saw four gashes had shredded the hood. Jarod’s hand seemed to barely hang from the side.

“How far to the hospital?” She looked ahead. Her eyes watered in the wind. They were actually flying over buildings now.

“Maybe a minute,” he said.

“Can we make it?”

Jarod punched through the door and swiped at Riley.

Vivian held the barrel of her gun against his wrist and fired. He withdrew. The helicopter began to shudder. Ahead, the hospital’s landing pad was deserted.

“Get ready,” Riley said.

Jittering back and forth in the downpour, they began to descend over the helipad. Thirty feet.

“We’re going to make a break.” Vivian moved back into the cargo hold next to Erica and said, “Jump out first. Then I’ll hand Cody to you.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be behind you.” She motioned to the gun. “I need my hands free.”

Erika slid open the door. Vivian peeked outside but couldn’t see Jarod anywhere.

Ten feet above the helipad, they hovered. Erika leapt down. Vivian picked up Cody and prepared to hand him over.

Jarod crawled up from the belly of the helicopter. She tried to aim at him, but he pierced her forearm with his hooks. Pain coursed through her wrist. He snatched Cody from her and shoved her through the door.

A blur of lights. She slammed down onto the rooftop, the wind knocked from her lungs. Rain splattered her face as she stared up. The helicopter began to ascend again. Jarod still hung from outside the helicopter, clutching Cody by his collar, dangling him outside the fuselage like a rag doll.

Above, the storm funnel had swallowed the sky. It began spiraling faster.

The helicopter veered right, then left. They were two stories up now. She stood and staggered toward them. The chopper dipped again. Her stomach leapt into her throat.

“Mommy,” Cody cried out.

God, at some point, he’d woken from that trance.

“Baby.” She choked out the word.

His collar ripped and he fell. She sprinted forward and caught him. His momentum shoved them both to the floor. Luckily, she managed to shield his fall with her body.

“Cody.” She hugged him, and then checked his body for cuts or breaks. “Baby, can you hear me. Are you hurt?”

“Mommy,” he shouted. His eyes snapped open. Though she was directly in front of him, he didn’t seem to see her.

“Cody.” She shook him hard. “Baby. God, anyone. I don’t know what to do.”

He grabbed her cheeks. Pain needles stabbed her head. Every hair, her ears and eyes felt as though they were ripped from her skull. Her arms went numb, then her spine and legs.

The world began to disintegrate.

V
ivian’s head felt
as though it was squeezed through a garden hose. The hospital rooftop, the helicopter, Cody and the hurricane all blinked away into blurred colors, which slowly focused. She found herself alone on a street, maybe fifty-feet wide, formed from diamond-shaped cobblestones in varying shades of blue. The orange sky burned too brightly as well, swirled in fluorescent pink.

On either side of the road, a forest of dead trees locked branches in a tangle of bramble and mud that seemed impassable. Giant mantises and other hook-armed insects flitted and scurried about. None crossed the invisible street barrier though. She turned. Behind her, the cobblestones stopped, leaving only a muddy, rutted road that choked off into the charred forest.

Was she dead? Passed out on the roof? No. Somehow, Cody had brought her here when he touched her face, but where was this? Some kind of dream maybe. Was this where he went when his eyes were rolled back white? If that was the case, where was he? She had to hurry and find him. Jarod was back on the roof, trying to kill them right now.

“Cody,” Vivian yelled and turned back around.

Dead center in the street, a wooden rocking horse as large as a Clydesdale appeared. Its wide eyes and painted smile sent chills through her as it wobbled back and forth.

“Cody,” she yelled again.

“Are you lost?” said a voice in a Cockney accent. A brunette girl with a single braid over her shoulder stood beside the wooden horse. Her yellow dress seemed to match the smell of lemon squares and chocolate, Cody’s two favorite treats.

“My son.” Vivian walked over to her. “Where’s Cody?”

The girl shrugged.

“Don’t lie to me. I know he’s here.”

“You’re not supposed to be here, you know.” The girl reached up and began combing the horse’s red yarn mane. A black golf ball-sized welt with freckles had sprouted on the side of her neck. “You should go home. Cody lives with us now.”

“Cody,” Vivian shouted. “Where are you, baby.”

“Shhh.” The girl tried to grab her hand, and she flinched. “He’ll come back.”

“Who will come back? Mister Vincent?”

The girl shook her head violently and stared behind her. Vivian turned. The horse no longer rocked. Its painted nostrils seemed more flared than before, its smile gone.

“Don’t say his name,” the girl said.

“Mommy,” Cody yelled from far off.

“Stay away from them, baby.” Vivian charged down the street toward him. “Don’t touch them.”

Within seconds, she came upon a massive circular clearing made of that same cobblestone. At the center, a house had been built from blue Legos, the roof in red. Around the perimeter of the clearing, dozens more life-sized toys seemed to stand guard. Elmo and plastic Pikachu. Optimus Prime’s forearm was missing. In fact, most of the toys had one limb or another severed, and yet they all smiled.

Just feet away, guarding the house’s front picket fence, Cody’s stuffed bear stood taller than she did, wearing a British Royal Guard hat. It held a musket, with one claw wrapped around the barrel. Patches of its fur had been rubbed off, exposing raw skin, mottled with blood. That hanging eye dangled as turned its head, following her.

Inside the perimeter of toys, a group of children formed a rotating circle with their hands locked. The’ girls’ frilled dresses whipped as they danced. The’ boys’ cowboy boots clicked on the granite tiles. Open sores. Scabs. Scar tissue. All of them diseased in different ways.

“Ring a ring of roses,” they chanted.

Vivian ran up. They stopped and stared at her.

“Mommy.” Cody’s voice sounded like it came from the Lego house.

“Move out of my way,” Vivian told the kids.

“Mommy,” the children said, but their mouths didn’t move. “Go away. You can’t be here.”

“I’m never leaving,” Vivian shouted at Mister Vincent. “Do you hear me? You’ll have to kill me.”

An earthquake shook the street. The tiles crumbled and ruptured a two-inch gap that led to her feet. She jumped to one side. The kids scattered and hid behind the toys.

“It’s not smart to mess with things once they’re in motion.” The raspy voice sounded much too friendly.

An elderly black man emerged from the trees. Mister Vincent. He had to be. His moth-eaten suit hung from his frail body. No doubt his jaundiced eyes and wrinkled skin were a mask. But a mask for what? What could possibly turn Jarod into that creature?

“I want my son,” she told him.

“You’re only making this worse for him.”

“Give him back. Now.”

“Watch how you speak.” His voice grew quiet. “We don’t have to do this the easy way.”

All around, the toys began twitching and moaning. She didn’t dare find out what would happen if she pushed too hard. First, she had to get Cody. Then they could worry about escaping.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Please, I have to talk to my son.”

“Just you being here has already gotten him worked up.” He motioned behind her at Cody’s bear, which pulled fur from its own shoulder with sharpened teeth.

“That’s disgusting,” Vivian said. “You let my son see this?”

“Just where do you think you are?” he asked.

“I don’t care about whatever twisted jollies you get in here, but—”

“I couldn’t do this if I wanted to. Here in Cody Town, he makes the rules. It would be wise if you helped me calm him. Otherwise, things could get real messy for everyone.”

“You’re lying,” she told him, but deep down she wasn’t sure. She recognized everything here from Cody’s toy box.

“This oasis, these soldiers are the only things holding back the nasty thoughts.” He motioned to a two-foot millipede just beyond the walkway. A crow perched on its back, pecking out bits of its intestine.

“I know you’re lying now. My baby is not creating that.”

“With the way you and Jarod have been carrying on, are you really that surprised that the boy’s got some issues to work through?”

“You turned Jarod into that thing. Do you have any idea of what he’s doing out there right now?”

“You’ll have to forgive me, but I’ve been a bit busy here. Lots of preparations and all.”

“He’s trying to kill me.”

“Yes, well.” Mister Vincent gave a knowing nod and scratched a patch of his scraggly beard. “Probably you shouldn’t have shot him in the chest earlier tonight.”

“He tried to murder Cody, too.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Really,” she said. “He just dropped him from a helicopter.”

His jaw clenched and he looked down. Could it be? Last night, Mister Vincent had told Cody Jay-Jay’s name, so she’d assumed that he was all knowing. A ghost or a demon or something.

This news had clearly caught him by surprise though. What did that mean? That he had to be present in order to know the things he knew? The hairs on her neck rose. She’d only been fourteen when she babysat Jay-Jay. Years before she’d even met Jarod. How long had Mister Vincent been watching her?

“What do you want from us?”

“I already told you,” he said. “Calm your son. Make him happy. Then I’ll help send you home safe and sound.”

“And I just told you that Jarod is out there right now trying to kill us. We’re running out of time.”

“Time is the one thing we have plenty of in Cody Town,” he said. “And peppermint candy, of course.”

“You think this is a joke?”

“No, I don’t.” His face turned deadly serious, his eyes resonated power. He pointed to the crack in the tiles. Hundreds of insects began crawling through. The soldier toys immediately went to work, stomping on them. “Unless you stop stressing your son out, things are going to get real ugly here.”

“Okay,” she said. “Fine.”

Could Cody be doing this? Was this really some dark recess of his subconscious?

“We both want your son safe and happy,” he said. “And another thing. A little gratitude isn’t out of the question either.”

“Gratitude?”

“If memory serves, Mr. Kevin Stromsky had some terrible things planned for you if I hadn’t intervened.”

She didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. Jarod’s transformation
had
provided the perfect cover for her escape. Then when that bastard had tried to kill her in the estate’s hallway, Mister Vincent had somehow forced him off her. Probably to stop these cracks from forming in Cody Town. In any case, now wasn’t the time to make an enemy here. Not unless it was necessary. And definitely not until her son was in her arms.

“Thank you for saving my life,” she said.

“No problem at all,” he replied. The toys at the perimeter clapped and clutched their hands over their hearts. Even that crack began to fuse back together. “Now see, there’s no reason that this can’t be cordial.”

Here was her chance.

“I know it wasn’t intentional,” she said. “But you’ve unleashed an indestructible monster on us.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied. “But Jarod doesn’t listen too well.”

“Tell me how to stop him. Then I promise I’ll calm Cody down and leave this place.” No way in hell she’d leave her baby behind, but this could be a win-win. Learn how to kill Jarod, while Vincent brought Cody to her. “He must have some weakness.”

“It took lifetimes to create that man.” He spoke as if Jarod was his prized student. “He has no weakness. Don’t worry though. With the way he’s burning through the juice that I gave him, he’ll be back to his old self soon enough.”

“I don’t know what that means.” She played dumb, though it was obvious that Jarod’s transformation was on a timer. When he healed or used his strength, well, that only sped it up. Finally, she had a plan. Wear him down and then put a bullet between his eyes.

“You just have to survive long enough,” Mister Vincent said. “Things will settle back to normal.”

“Is that all I can do?”

“At this point.”

“Okay,” she said. “Bring me Cody. He needs his mother.”

“Just remember.” He smiled, showing teeth with rust stains that hadn’t been there before. He lowered his voice, barely above a whisper. “Consequences in Cody Town be damned. If you test me, I’ll make sure Jarod eats you in front of your son.”