CHAPTER 24

BREAKER TRIED TO hold the chopper steady through the turbulence that rocked it back and forth as it soared over the treetops. Barry squatted on the tiny jump seat in back of the cramped cockpit, strands of Christmas lights wrapped around his neck, while Wake sat beside Breaker, close enough that none of them had to raise their voices to be heard over the engine noise. They were so relieved to be away from the town, away from the Taken, that they were giddy, eager to banter and pretend that they were out of danger. Even Breaker broke her mask of professionalism and spoke of her fear and frustration when her shotgun blasts alone didn’t bring down the Taken.

“I knew I was hitting them, but… they just kept coming at us, ” Breaker kept repeating.

Wake just sat back and enjoyed the moment with the two of them high above the horrors on the ground. The Taken came in all sizes, they carried double-bladed axes and lengths of rebar, they threw hammers and sickles… but none of them flew. If he wasn’t so excited, he’d have dozed off.

“You want to know my favorite part? ” said Barry.

“Do we have a choice? ” said Wake.

“It was when we were creeping past the hardware store, ” said Barry, “and the sparks from the downed power line showered over us, but we had to go through it anyway, to get to the other side. It was like we were walking through a blast furnace. ”

“A blast furnace with zombies, ” said Breaker.

“Zombies, ” said Barry, plucking at the Christmas lights around his neck. He made his face go blank, stretched out his arms. “Must kill… must eat brains…”

Breaker went silent, gave her attention to the controls of the chopper.

“Too close to home? ” said Barry. “I get it. ”

“We’re here, that’s all that matters, ” said Wake.

Isolated pockets of light littered the dark landscape below: barns with overhead lights, homes with the occupants safe behind closed doors, families tucked in for the night with no idea what was happening in the rest of the town. Ignorance, that was one way to have pleasant dreams. Wake almost envied them. The chopper tracked a car that hurtled down the highway, high beams cutting through the night, before Breaker veered off, steering toward the power plant and Cynthia Weaver.

Barry pulled a half-eaten jelly donut out of his parka, offered it to Breaker first, then Wake. When they laughed at him, he shrugged and started eating it himself. “Got to keep your strength up, ” he said, licking his fingers.

“I’ve got a few cans of double espresso and cr& #232; me under the jump seat, ” said Breaker.

“You’re kidding, ” said Wake, reaching under the seat. He pulled out three cans. “You weren’t kidding. ” He tossed one to Barry, who bobbled it.

“You see, Mr. Alan Wake, ” teased Breaker, “we actually have a few touches of civilization in Bright Falls. Canned coffee, running water, even heard some folks have this new-fangled doohickey called satellite TV. ”

Wake opened a can for Breaker. “Sorry. ”

“Apology accepted. ” Breaker took the can, took a long swallow, her face wild in the lights of the control panel, hair undone. “That’s better. ”

Wake watched her, and then turned away.

They flew in silence for several minutes, fueling up on caffeine, all of them thinking about what had happened in the last few hours, how close they had come to dying. How close Barry and Breaker had come to dying, anyway.

The more he learned about the Dark Presence, the more he doubted it wanted him dead. The darkness needed Wake alive… but it didn’t need him aware. It didn’t need him free. The next time he was touched by the darkness, Wake wouldn’t have a chance to write himself a way out. He would be trapped in Bird Leg Cabin forever, writing whatever the Dark Presence wanted, and there would be nothing he could do about it. Dying might be better.

The terrain got steeper underneath them, rugged outcroppings of rock and scraggly trees. No houses down there, hardly any roads, just a few tents scattered around, flapping in the wind. Wake thought again of the Taken he had encountered in the last few days, hunters and trappers and fishermen, wondered if any of them had set up camp out here. Wondered who was waiting for them back home.

“You like New York City? ” said Breaker.

“No place like it, ” said Barry.

“Most of the time, ” said Wake. “It’s got its dangers and pitfalls like anyplace else. ” He could see his reflection in the canopy. He looked tired. Looked like he had lost ten pounds. “It’s easy to lose your way too, just like out here. Easy to forget where you’re supposed to be going. ”

“No Taken, though, ” said Breaker.

“No… no Taken, ” said Wake.

“They say we have mutant albino alligators in the sewers, ” said Barry. “Not that I believe it. ”

“Mutant alligators? ” said Breaker.

“The story goes that a lot of people buy these small pet alligators on vacation in Florida, ” said Wake. “They get home and a month later they’ve lost their tan and gotten sick of their scaly souvenirs. So they flush the gators down the toilet. ”

“Ker-flush, ” said Barry, miming a toilet flush.

Wake glanced back at him. “Anyway, supposedly, the alligators all end up in the sewers where they live happily ever after. ”

“I love New York, ” said Barry.

“You’ve never been there? ” said Wake.

“Nope, ” said Breaker.

“You should visit sometime, ” said Wake. “Alice and I will show you around. ”

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t know, ” said Breaker. “My father was a police officer there until he moved to Bright Falls. He told some pretty wild stories about his time there. I used to tease Dad that he was just like Alex Casey. ”

“You’ve read my books? ” said Wake.

“Sure, ” said Breaker. “You’re a pretty good writer, little heavy on the metaphors. Oh, and you seriously need a technical advisor. You had this one scene where Casey flips the safety off a revolver. Gave my dad and me a good laugh. ”

“Everybody’s a critic, ” said Wake.

“I’m just giving you a hard time, ” said Breaker. “I’m in no hurry to visit New York, though. The way my dad talked, I don’t think he missed it. ”

“I can understand that, ” said Wake. “This is beautiful country. In daylight, anyway. ”

Breaker smiled.

“If they ever make a movie about all this, ” said Barry, “who do you think would play me? ”

“You have a little jelly on the corner of your mouth, ” said Wake. “You might want to wipe that away before your Hollywood close-up. ”

Barry snagged the jelly with the tip of his pinky, put it in his mouth.

“Who’s that movie star with the three names? ” said Breaker.

“Please, don’t encourage him, ” said Wake.

“Phillip Seymour…” said Breaker.

“Phillip Seymour Hoffman? ” said Barry. “He’s a good actor, but he’s fat. ” He patted his gut. “I’m just husky. I was thinking more like—”

The helicopter hit an air pocket.

“Whoa, ” yelped Barry.

The helicopter dropped suddenly, falling almost to the treetops before Breaker got control and regained altitude.

“I… I think I’m going to be sick, ” moaned Barry, holding his head in his hands.

“You doing okay, Sarah? ” said Wake.

“I’m doing fine, ” said Breaker. “Just hang on to something. With all the thermals and the sudden gusts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. ”

“If you want to set it down someplace safe, ” said Wake, “I can—”

She gave him a withering look that was similar to one Alice occasionally shared with him. “I’m just saying that I can make it to the power plant on foot, ” said Wake.

Breaker glared at Wake, her mouth tight. “Look, I… I didn’t mean—”

“I am the county sheriff, ” said Breaker, glancing at the controls. “I am responsible for the four thousand people who live in these parts. I talk them out of cutting their throats when they lose their jobs, and I stop them from beating on their wives and children because they’re just mean. I pull tourists off the mountain who think their fancy-ass alpine parkas make them invulnerable to avalanches and crevasses. ”

“Sarah—”

“I arrest them when they mess up, ” gritted Breaker, “and I release them when they sober up. The people around here are my responsibility, and they’re the best people in the world. We keep the peace here, me and a dozen part-time deputies with community college degrees in law enforcement. We keep the peace. ” She looked at Wake, her face tattooed with the red lights from the instrument panel. “Until you showed up, anyway. ”

The silence was unbroken except for the steady thumping of the engine, and the rotors cutting through the cold night air.

“I… I didn’t really appreciate that remark about fancy-ass alpine parkas, ” said Barry, plucking at his nylon parka. “I’m not even sure I know exactly what a crevasse is, and but I sure wouldn’t go near one. ”

Wake laughed and Breaker laughed too, both of them cracking up every time they looked at Barry and his bright red parka.

“What did I say? ” said Barry.

Barry knew exactly what he had said and why he had said it. Wake knew it too and so did Breaker, and they were grateful to him for giving them an excuse to dissipate the frustration in the cockpit.

Breaker inclined her head toward Wake, almost touching him. “Sorry. ”

“You were right, ” said Wake. “This was probably a pretty great town before I showed up. ”

“It was a hell of a lot better than it is now, ” said Breaker, “but it wasn’t paradise. We’ve always had more than our fair share of disappearances around here, more abandoned cabins with supper on the table, more cars left by the side of the road and no drivers come to claim them. ” She shook her head. “I wrote it off to bad luck or people just getting tired of their lives and walking away from it. Now…”

“I’m going to fix things as best I can, ” Wake said quietly as the dam loomed in the distance, closer by the moment, the power plant below it brightly lit in the darkness. “I’ll do what I can, that’s a promise. ”

“I’ll be happy to stop whatever is in the lake, ” said Breaker. “Stop the Dark Presence and get your wife back, safe and sound. I’ll settle for that. ”

Wake nodded.

“You’ll like Alice, Sheriff, ” Barry piped up from the jump seat. “She’s really… tough. Not tough hard, but tough good. Like you. She’s not exactly my biggest fan, but I think the two of you would hit it off. ”

“I can’t wait to meet her, ” said Breaker, gently arcing the helicopter toward the power plant. “See those power cables, ” she said, pointing. “That’s the transformer station. I’ll put us down in the area near the river. Plenty of room and it’s away from the lines. ”

Wake saw a shadow pass between them and the moon. He peered up at the stars.

“Uh-oh. ”

“What? ” said Breaker.

“What’s wrong? ” said Barry. “Al, something wrong? ”

“Not sure, ” said Wake. “There’s a… huge flock of ravens circling up ahead. ” He pressed his face up against the cockpit, trying to get a better look. “There seem to be more of them joining the flock. Lots of them. ”

“You’re worried about birds? ” said Breaker.

“This is bad, ” said Barry. “I’ve had a run-in with these ravens before. ” He switched on the Christmas lights around his neck. “These birds aren’t like pigeons. They’re not looking for a handout. ”

Wake kept watch on the ravens. “He’s right, Sarah. I think you should—”

A mass of ravens swooped down on the helicopter, several of them smacking against the cockpit, Wake jerking back at the sound of their beaks striking the hard plastic.

“Son of a…” Breaker took the chopper lower, trying to avoid the swarms of birds that came at her from several directions at once. “Hang on! ”

Another flock of ravens flew down at them, beating against the cowling, heading directly into the rotors, black feathers shooting everywhere.

The helicopter engine struggled, regained power.

“Bad, bad, very bad, ” chanted Barry, fingering the blue and green bulbs around his neck. “I hate birds, I hate birds, I hate birds. ”

Wake flipped on the helicopter’s searchlight, disintegrating a mass of ravens headed directly at them, the birds flaring into dust. Ravens attacked from the sides, flapped through the opening in the cockpit, clawing at their hands and faces. Wake beat at them with the flashlight, turned the beam on one tearing at Breaker’s hair as she tried to pilot them out of danger. The raven disintegrated.

Breaker made a hard right turn, hoping to leave the ravens behind with her evasive action, but there were so many of them, hundreds and hundreds of them pouring out of the forest, filling the sky. She pushed the stick of the helicopter full forward, trying to outrun them. She almost made it.

A flock of ravens flew directly into the tail rotor, waves and waves of them. They were torn to pieces, but their bodies clocked the mechanism, slowing the chopper and throwing it out of control.

Breaker wrestled with the controls and Wake hung on tight and Barry cursed and prayed.

The helicopter spun wildly, the skids grazing the treetops before Breaker regained control, but it was too late. She avoided the trees at the base of the dam, but the helicopter landed roughly, the tail snapping off as it rolled over, throwing them hard against their seat belts.

“Is everyone okay? ” said Breaker. Wake could see blood trickling down her cheek from a half-dozen spots where the ravens had torn at her with their sharp beaks. Blood stained the collar of her uniform. She ignored the wounds.

“Fine, I’m fine, ” said Wake, unbelting his safety harness. “Barry? ”

“What’s… what’s the collision deductible on these things? ” said Barry.

Wake got out, helped Barry unhook himself, saw him wince as he eased out of the jump seat.

Breaker came around the helicopter. She carried the shotguns and the flashlights.

They moved away from the downed chopper, started walking toward the bright lights of the abandoned power plant.

“You did a good job, ” Wake said to Breaker.

“I crashed, ” said Breaker.

“Yeah, but you crashed really well, ” said Wake.

Breaker punched him in the arm. It hurt.

“What’s so funny? ” said Barry.

Doc sat down heavily. He’d examined Barry and Rose. Barry was already recovering. Rose was another story: she was conscious, but she was barely present, almost delirious, disturbed—“touched in the head, ” they used to say. It wasn’t the first time Doc had seen someone in such a state, but it’d been over thirty years. Doc poured himself a stiff drink. He hadn’t forgotten a thing.

⇐ Предыдущая 22 23 24 25 26 272829 30 31 Следующая ⇒