Brian Keene: Ghost Walk

“You’re not a man,” Levi goaded, trying to stoke Adam’s fears higher. “You’re nothing. You failed as a writer, as a husband, as a father, and as a friend. You’re not a protector. You’re a joke. You couldn’t save your wife or your children. And now, you can’t even save yourself.

“Look at it, Adam! Everyone that you damned. Tara. Big Steve. Merle Laughman. Dale Haubner. Cliff Swanson. Cory Peters. Paul and Shannon Legerski. Shelly Carpenter. Leslie Vandercamp and her boyfriend, Michael Gitleson. Officer Al Uylik. All dead because of your arrogance. Because of your incompetence. Their families grieve while you shirk the blame. Look upon your works, magus. Go on! Look into the darkness and stare upon your ghosts.”

Adam’s screams echoed across the forest and field. He shrank away, pressing against the invisible barrier behind him. The darkness rushed forward, flowing along the trail.

Levi’s voice rose in pitch and drowned out Adam’s wails.

“ Eloim shammanta. Barra, Gigum xul. Barra, Maskim xul. Ia idimmu, descente Shtar. Destrato Nud. Destrato Verminus. Destrato Nuada .”

“Get back!” Adam screamed. “Levi, help me! Let me out!”

“ Destrato Lud. Destrato Shub-Niggurath. Destrato Pahad. Destrato Lilitu. Destrato Lamashtu. Destrato Othel. Sator opera verminni. Sator opera fhatagn .”

Levi paused, watching. Attracted by the magnitude of Adam’s fears and guilt, Nodens was focusing on the distraught man, attracted by his boiling emotional energies. As it narrowed the distance between them, stretching to the very limits of its current boundaries, the entity condensed its mass, shrinking down and thickening. Without taking his eyes off it, Levi reached down and grabbed a candle with each hand. Then he touched the flames to the lime. Immediately, the darkness solidified inside the lines, occupying the Ghost Walk and withdrawing from the surrounding woods. The portion of Nodens that was left in the gateway retreated inside the portal.

“Got you.” There was no glee in Levi’s voice.

Levi had effectively split the entity in two. The earthbound portion was trapped inside the Ghost Walk. The rest, he knew, was cowering on the other side of the doorway, weakened and—for the first time in eons, he hoped—afraid.

“Levi,” Adam begged, “please don’t do this. Don’t do this to me.”

“For what it’s worth, Mr. Senft. I am sorry.”

The darkness spoke.

Adam …

“Tara,” Adam whispered. “Baby, I’m so sorry…”

“Maria!” Levi yelled. “Ken! Do it now!”

He turned back to Adam and watched him writhe as the darkness slithered over him. Adam’s cries died in his throat.

The darkness hovered in front of him, savoring his emotions. Then, overcome with hunger, Nodens began to feed. Levi turned away.

“God forgive me,” he wept. “God, please forgive me…”

“It sounds like they’re fighting,” Ken said. “Maybe we should go back over there.”

“No.” Maria reached out and clasped his arm. “Let’s just do what Levi said, and wait for his signal.”

Privately, she was concerned as well. Standing where they were, in the field and near the trail’s exit, she couldn’t make out every word. Their voices were garbled. But Levi’s tone had taken on a distinctly ugly sound. It was mean. Spiteful. Full of hatred and disgust—not at all like the man she’d come to know over the last forty-eight hours.

Then Adam started screaming.

Ken started forward again, but Maria pulled him back.

“Wait.”

“Why?”

“Because we have to trust him. He’s a man of God, right?”

“I don’t know what the hell he is.”

Ken glanced around the field. The police still hadn’t arrived—or if they had, then they were having trouble making it through the surging crowds. Rather than running, the crowds had come closer, drawn like flies at the prospect of some human misfortune—an accident, a heart attack, a murder. Excited by the possibility of seeing someone dragged out of the woods on a stretcher, they waited. The Ghost Walk’s staff was holding them at bay, keeping them confined in a rough semicircle near the ticket booth. Beyond the midway, other people were leaving, perhaps anxious to escape the morbid curiosity of their fellow citizens. The upper half of the field was jammed with cars and a long line had formed on the road—another traffic jam, this time leading away from the Ghost Walk. Maybe that explained the cops’ tardiness.

Levi’s voice rose on the wind, drifting toward them.

“ Eloim shammanta. Barra, Gigum xul. Barra, Maskim xul. Ia idimmu, descente Shtar. Destrato Nud. Destrato Verminus. Destrato Nuada .”

“Sounds like gibberish to me,” Ken grunted. “Maybe he’s having some kind of seizure.”

“Be quiet,” Maria whispered. “I’m trying to listen.”

Suddenly, Adam’s screams rose in intensity. Then they heard Levi call out to them.

“Maria! Ken! Do it now!”

“Come on,” Maria said. “You heard the man.”

“I still don’t understand any of this.”

They began sprinkling the salt as Levi had instructed, careful not to let their hands or toes breach the pathway’s boundary lines. Leaves and twigs crunched under their feet, and they had to duck beneath low-hanging branches. They’d gone about ten feet when the white line began to glow.

“Look,” Maria gasped.

A blue radiance filled the air. Sparks crackled across the surface of the lime. Then, the entire Ghost Walk began to glow, starting at the exit and racing into the woods.

Ken gazed in amazement. “It’s like pouring a line of gasoline on the ground and then lighting a match. Like a long fuse.”

As they watched, the blue glow spread deep into the forest, following the trail.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” Ken suggested. “Get back up to the field.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Maria agreed breathlessly. “You’re right. It does look like a fuse. And who knows what’s gonna happen when it reaches the other end?”

Nodens swept over Adam, gorging itself on the man’s overwrought emotions.

Adam shivered in its cold caress. His body felt weak and weightless. He closed his eyes and moaned. When he opened his eyes again, all he saw was darkness. Something whispered in his ear. Then another. And another. His wife. His children. His friends and his dog. Each of them spoke to him, promising in detail the terrors and anguish that waited beyond.

Blinking the tears from his eyes, Levi watched.

Deep in the forest was a blue glow. It grew brighter and larger as it raced toward them, dispelling the darkness in its path. It reminded Levi of a freight train.

Nodens tried to flee the onrushing light, but was trapped by the lime. It tried to cross the barriers, tried to break free and return to the doorway and rejoin its other half—but it was too late. Already, the cold light had severed its link with the rest of its body, churning in the portal. Now the dazzling brilliance rolled forward. The darkness sizzled at its touch, dissipating like smoke.

Enraged, Nodens poured itself inside the man, Adam Senft. It was furious at this violation—angered that it would have to resort to seeking shelter inside one of the Creator’s toys, a bag of flesh and blood and pus. And all because of this little human with the beard. But it had no choice. The light devoured everything in its path, and Nodens grew weaker as it advanced.

Levi mouthed a silent prayer as the light bore down on them. He felt cold fingers dig through his mind, and knew that Nodens was aware of his presence. Sensing its rage and humiliation, Levi smiled.

“I bind and banish you according to the Law. You may not pass through the door. Go now and bother this Earth no more.”