Page 88 of The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand

She lifted the glass to her lips and took a long drink, hoping he would do the same and not sip it like a granny with her tea. To her surprise, he drank half of it.

“That’s a good boy.”

He winced. “Hmm. Very bitter.”

“Don’t worry about that.” She moved to the edge of the bed and sat down. He stood, looking awkward. Elizabeth imagined this must have been the first time he was alone with a woman who wasn’t his nan.

“Why don’t you drink the rest of that and come sit next to me.”

“Uh… okay.” He shuffled closer and sat down, draining the glass, still making a face at the taste of it.

“That’s better. See? Isn’t this better than being all alone in some old, dodgy, damp-smelling, cold Victorian building with no one to talk to?”

He chuckled. “You’re right. But I can’t wait to find others. We can have open discussions. Map out how we’ll start again. We have God on our side.”

She stared at him. “How are you feeling right now?”

He chuckled again. “Good. Very good. Not like the last time I tried to drink alcohol.”

One of her hands crept onto his thigh. “We have to take care of each other. I can lead us.”

He looked at Elizabeth with a vacant gaze as her fingers gripped his leg. With her other hand, she untied the terry-cloth belt around her waist and opened the robe. “I need to feel someone next to me. Have you ever been with a woman?”

He immediately scooted a few inches away from her. Her hand slipped from his thigh. “No. Never.”

“Let me change that. It’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m a great teacher. You’ll see.”

“I don’t want to. No. I—I just met you.” He blinked slowly, staring at his feet.

Elizabeth stood in front of him. “You have to. You were brought to me… Given to me.”

“I think that beer was too much. Feeling a bit weak. You should go,” he said with a look of discomfort and embarrassment.

Elizabeth placed the terry-cloth belt around his neck.

“I’m sorry. Pray with me.”

His drowsy eyes darted around the room as he lifted his trembling hands.

She took the loose ends of the belt and tied it tight at the base of his neck.

Using the remaining belt, she tied his wrists together with a double knot.

Half hog-tied. He sucked in a deep breath and it choked him when he moved.

“What… What are you doing to me?!”

He tried to scream. His eyes widened as she threw off the robe and pushed him onto his back.

“Don’t,” he said in a strained voice. His pale skin had turned red from lack of oxygen, as hers did with her arousal.

She smirked. “Believe me when I say you’ll love this.”

She yanked down his jogging trousers and took his soft cock in her hands. He tried to buck his hips to stop her from stimulating him. She dug her nails into his left thigh.

“Behave yourself, or I’ll do the same thing to your cock.” Her eyes darkened and narrowed as she glared at him.

He stopped and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m lightheaded… feel so weak… was it… the beer?”

She laughed at his panic. “C’mon. You love it, otherwise you wouldn’t be this hard.”

He looked down on his full erection then shut his eyes again.

“Now be a good boy and fuck me. It’s been so long.” She crawled on top of him and pushed hard against his hips. A loud groan escaped her mouth. “Look at me, Joseph.”

She gritted her teeth and leaned forward, placing her hands around his neck. “I said look at me , you little cunt !”

His eyes snapped open as she squeezed his neck tighter.

Her hips grinded on his cock with an unnatural frenzy.

The sound of her heavy tits slapping against her torso filled the room.

She emitted hoarse, guttural noises that sprang from deep in her throat.

She opened her mouth and threw back her neck with her eyes rolling into her head.

Her entire body quaked as she rage-fucked him harder and faster.

Joseph struggled to take in any ounce of oxygen as her hands and the belt tightened against his windpipe.

He tried to claw at the robe belt without any luck.

Her head jerked forward. She bared her teeth as she orgasmed.

“ Randall! ” she shrieked as she fell over Joseph. Her chest heaved as she regained her breath. Muffled sobs escaped his trembling lips.

She lifted her head toward him and reached between her legs.

“Why are your crying? I made you come.”

She wiped her sticky hand on his hair.

“Let me go,” he said, gasping for air.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and shifted her body off of him, then untied him. “This was what he wanted. Flagg brought you to me first for a reason. You have to become a man at some point. Don’t worry though—I’ll make you into what he needs you to be.”

Elizabeth grabbed the belt and then the robe off the floor before walking out the door.

Joseph lay in bed, crying as he fell in and out of a broken sleep.

Whatever Elizabeth gave him (there had to have been something in the beer) made him feel unwell.

His belly ached and his head was in a fog.

She was no prophet or even a decent human being.

Even during the plague, he had tried to maintain hope.

Joseph promised his nan to be a light and help others if he could.

All he had to do was stay strong and keep his faith.

He’d promised her and that was what he had planned to do.

Until now. At this moment, he felt utterly crushed and lost inside.

Joseph closed his eyes, wishing he could speak to his nan one final time.

How could he help others feeling so tainted and hopeless?

“Joey .”

The whisper made him stir as he tried to open his eyes. “ Hey, Joey .”

It was him .

“Help me,” Joseph said. “Help me escape her. Do you know what she’s doing in your name? She is a liar.”

“I do. Bring her to me and I’ll make sure she faces justice. You’ll feel better.”

“But how? How can I get to you?”

“Take the bus, man. I’ll do the rest. Water to wine. I can do it all.”

Joseph nodded his head before drifting to sleep.

He recalled a strange memory from his childhood.

Lizard Point. Where he flew kites and ate ice cream on the pier, thinking about the expanse of the ocean.

Once, his kite crashed into the water, but it floated on the surface. He woke up, taking it for a sign.

Elizabeth woke with a dry mouth and a sore head from the two bottles of red wine she’d gone through after leaving Joseph. It was a small celebration. Despite not feeling her best, she walked across Westminster Bridge with her morning cigarette as usual, then back to the hotel.

There was no sign of Joseph.

She knocked on his room door with no answer. She entered with the spare key. He wasn’t there, but his bed was made. She burned thinking he would leave her. If she had to keep him drugged until he surrendered, then she would do just that.

She power walked to Westminster Abbey knowing Joseph would be on his knees in penance. Sure enough, he knelt in front of the altar with hands clasped. She walked toward him, ready to throttle him for making what should have been fun so difficult. He wanted it.

His cheeks went bright crimson with shame when he turned in her direction. He averted his gaze, unable to look Elizabeth.

“What’s your problem?” she spat.

“I think you’re a liar and a bad person. What you did to me…”

She rolled her eyes. “Please. You enjoyed it. You sprayed all over me.”

He shook his head, on the verge of tears. “I couldn’t help it. I had never…”

“Piss off. Don’t ever come to me with that bullshit. If I want to fuck you, then you will do it.”

He looked up at her with defiance in his eyes and cheeks still flushed. “I will not.”

She leaned closer to him with both hands on her hips. “Try to stop me. I will kill you and you will never see Flagg. In fact, I’ll tell him about it. And next time I come to your room, you better do exactly as I ask. If I don’t pop like it’s Bonfire Night, then you’ll be in big trouble.”

“We are going to him. I’m taking you to him to seek justice.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “Are you crazy? We can’t get to America!”

“Yes, we can. I found a working bus and enough gas.”

“No wonder you were still a virgin. Because you are one big silly cunt!” she said, emphasizing the word cunt .

Joseph reached inside his jacket and pulled out an antique dagger encrusted with jewels on the handle.

Before Elizabeth could react, he stabbed her twice in the abdomen.

Her mouth opened as she sucked in air with each penetration of the blade.

She touched her belly with a look of shock on her face.

Her hands balled into fists as searing pain radiated from the wounds.

She screamed in agony, her eyes squeezed shut.

“ How dare you! ” she shrieked as she opened her eyes and glared at him. Tears slipped down her cheeks.

He grabbed a large candelabra off the altar and hit her on the side of the head. Elizabeth fell to the ground.

When he couldn’t sleep and while Elizabeth was getting drunker by the minute, Joseph had left the hotel to search the buses for one with enough gasoline. He had finally scored one at the bus depot thirty minutes’ walk away. He had parked it by the abbey, knowing she would look for him.

Now his plan had come to fruition. Blood pooled around her body and saturated her clothing.

At least it would be her blood on him and not the other way around.

He grabbed both of her hands and dragged her out of the abbey and to the waiting bus.

He hoisted her onto the first seat. He used a cable he’d found at the bus depot to tie her wrists and ankles together.

The memory of her tying his hands and neck made him pull tighter on the cable.

“You will answer for what you’ve done and for your lies.” He glanced at her top, saturated with blood. His fingertips touched it. “Your life belongs to him.”

Her eyes fluttered, and she winced as she continued to bleed. “You dummy, we can’t drive there.”

“He has promised a miracle.”

“Please, Joseph. He made me do it. Let’s live out our lives here. Have a go of it. Don’t you want to make your nan proud? Maybe have a family?”

“Not with you.”

Elizabeth’s face morphed into pure hatred before launching spit and blood toward his face.

“You will face your maker, Jezebel. We have six hours to drive. Don’t die on me just yet.”

He turned and got into the driver’s seat, and started the ignition. Rain pelted the windshield as he drove them out of London toward Lizard, a small coastal town to the southwest. It was the place he had visited during summer holidays when he was a boy.

Elizabeth stared out the window. She hadn’t been outside the city since before the plague.

They passed military vehicles, older buildings succumbing to the elements, more abandoned cars and trains stopped on tracks.

Once outside the city, the greenery had taken over.

Deer, foxes, and stray cats wandered without fear or care.

Overturned bins and piled up rubbish had been feasted upon by the animals.

Her eyes opened and closed with the heaviness of knowing she would die.

She glanced at her reflection in the window hoping to see Flagg, but there was nothing. He had abandoned her, too.

Joseph pressed his foot on the accelerator as they barreled through the southwest edge of the country toward the cliffs just beyond Lizard Point. He wouldn’t stop until they floated across the Atlantic on their journey toward Las Vegas. His body trembled with radioactive excitement.

Joseph and Elizabeth jolted in their seats as he took the bus off-road with the accelerator pinned. Elizabeth fell out of her seat, unable to move, her cheek planted to the dirty floor. She could no longer see what was happening.

For a moment, they were in flight. Just like his kite in his dreams. A wide smile spread across his face as the sun burst through the clouds.

Then his stomach lurched as the bus began to fall toward the ocean.

Joseph braced for the impact by gripping the steering wheel.

The forceful penetration of the bus caused his entire body to jolt forward.

Icy water poured into the heavy vehicle at a speed he didn’t anticipate.

He opened his eyes, trying to get control of the steering wheel, but water filled his nose and mouth. He couldn’t breathe.

“Hey, Joey… Over here .”

Joseph heard Flagg. He had come to save him. His head twisted from left to right as he tried to stay conscious. Elizabeth floated, lifeless. In the darkness of the freezing water, he thought he could see Flagg’s face. He reached for the image and thought to himself:

My life for you .