Richard Kadrey - Hollywood Dead

I head over to her and when she sees me, she sags against a toppled streetlight. Her face is smeared with dirt and a little blood. Her shirt and sleeve are torn. The Hellion at her feet isn’t quite dead yet. It’s leaking black blood fast, but it’s tough. It keeps crawling after her.

“What the fuck are these things?” she screams.

“Hellions. Fallen angels.”

She looks around, starts to say something, raises and drops her hands in a gesture of futility.

“Why did you do this to me?”

“Do you believe now?”

“Why did those others disappear when you shot them?”

“It’s what angels do when they die.”

She looks at the Hellion crawling for her, then at me.

“Make this one disappear.”

“Did you stab him?”

“Yes.”

“Then you do it.”

She purses her lips and hovers over him as his hands reach out for her. The Hellion wheezes and growls low. When it drops its hands for a moment, Marcella smashes its head in with the pipe. The Hellion sags on the sidewalk and disappears. When it’s gone, she leans back on the streetlight.

When I’m close enough, I take the pipe from her hand and throw it away. I don’t want her getting any ideas.

“Do you believe yet?”

She looks up at me. Nods.

“I didn’t until I stabbed him. I felt the metal in my hand. It was real and sharp, and when I shoved it into his chest, I knew it wasn’t a trick.”

“No. It wasn’t.”

She looks around.

“How long did you spend here?”

“Eleven years, the first time.”

“And you were alive the whole time?”

“Yeah. You’re one of the only other living humans to ever see the place. Congratulations.”

She flexes her fist. Her knuckles are red where she must have punched the Hellion before stabbing it. Marcella is tough. I wish she was on our side.

“Get me out of here.”

I take her hand and pull her into a shadow. We come out again in the bowling alley. She collapses on one of the lanes. I let her sit there for a while.

“You’re a torturer after all,” she says. “You sure had me fooled.”

“I wouldn’t have had to leave you there if you weren’t so full of shit.”

She looks at me from the floor.

“You can take me back there any time you want, can’t you?”

“Yes. I can.”

She shakes her head, picks up a piece of one of the pins I shot earlier, toys with it. Tosses it away.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you anything.”

Now I’m getting annoyed.

“Why not?”

She gestures back at the shadow we came through.

“Because now I know what will happen to me.”

“You mean damnation? If you tell me you’re afraid you’ll be damned?”

“I know I will.”

“You faction types must have some good preachers.”

She smiles, but it’s exhausted and unconvincing.

“The best.”

“Then you’re going to want to help me, Marcella.”

“Why?”

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re already going to Hell for the things you’ve done. And when you get there, I’m the one who can get you out.”

That makes her laugh.

“My my. The salvation of my eternal soul rests with Sandman Slim.”

“The world is funny that way.”

“And if I still won’t tell you?”

“I’ll put you right back in the ditch.”

She looks at me.

“I think you would.”

“Test me.”

“Okay,” she whispers. “Ask your questions.”

I hold out a hand to her.

“Get off the floor. Let’s pretend we’re people for a minute.”

I help her up and we sit on the padded seats by the scoring table.

“You ready?” I say.

“You’ll really come for me if I help you?”

“I haven’t lied to you so far. Well, except for my name. But you’re lying to me about your name, so we’re even there.”

She rubs her hands together nervously.

“Ask your questions.”

“Let’s start with what’s going to happen. The way I heard it, you’re going to nuke L.A.”

That makes her chuckle.

“It’s a cleansing and consecration of the land. But, yes, the Los Angeles you know will be wiped away.”

“And you’ll do it with a ritual.”

She nods wearily.

“Yes.”

“Does it happen Saturday or Sunday?”

With her thumb, she draws a cross in the dust on the table. Wipes it away with her fist.

“You might want to fire whoever is getting you your information.”

“It’s not this weekend? Then when?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Friday?”

Finally, some good news. Wormwood wants me to clean up their mess by Sunday, but I’ll have it done tomorrow. Then Howard does his spook show and I’m home free. I could be talking to Candy by sometime Saturday.

“Where does it happen?”

“The Chapel of St. Alexis.”

“I never heard of it.”

“Most people haven’t. It was condemned about twenty years ago and hasn’t been used since. After it closed there was a split in the congregation, so they were never able to raise enough money to repair it.”

“Then the faction stepped in and promised to foot the bill.”

She draws a smiley face in the dust, then wipes it out too.

“Yes. The ritual will take place in the crypt under the church.”

“When?”

“Vespers.”

“Sunset.”

She cocks her head.

“Are you sure you weren’t an altar boy?”

This is it. I know the what. I know the where and I know the when. I even know the why, but who gives a damn about that?

“Is anyone there now, setting up, maybe?”

“No one will arrive until just before the ritual begins.”

“How are they getting away? Car? Truck?”

“They’re not.”

I look at her.

“What does that mean?”

She draws aimless lines in the dust.

“They’re not leaving,” she says eventually. “The officiants are all volunteers.”

“Martyrs.”

She looks down the alley.

“Yes. And unlike me, they’ll go straight to Heaven.”

“That’s what the preachers told you, but it’s not going to happen. Even if they pulled it off.”

She stops doodling.

“What do you mean?”

“Whoever’s been running your crew is a liar or woefully uninformed. No one gets into Heaven anymore.”

She narrows her eyes.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does to the angels determined to keep human souls out.”

“That’s not possible.”

“And you think we should fire whoever’s giving us information? Where have you guys been? There’s a new war in Heaven, Marcella. God tried to open Heaven to all souls, saved or damned. A handful of winged pricks disagreed and Heaven has been sealed shut ever since.”

She crosses her arms.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t care, but think about this: Why would I lie to you now? What would it get me? You’ve already told me everything I want to know.”

She shakes her head. Keeps shaking it.

“That can’t be right. It’s not true.”

“Believe what you want. I have things to do, like changing out of this suit.” Shifting my weight, I can feel the blood squelch in my shoes.

She looks at me.

“What happens to me now? Are you going to kill me?”

“No. I might have more questions for you later.”

I leave her and go to the door.

“I’ll have them bring a mattress and some food down for you. There’s a bathroom through that door over there.”

She looks around.

“It’s a funny place for a slumber party.”

“Be good and we’ll play Twister later.”

When I start out she says, “You know that if you don’t kill me, the others will.”