Page 148 of The Midnight Knock

“That’s bullshit,” Ethan said. “You and I both know you’d let the world burn before you let someone tell you what to do. Just give me the truth. Please.”

The silver light in Hunter’s eyes seemed to shiver. They produced a pair of silver tears. “Do you remember two nights ago, right before the end, when I said how meeting you had changed me?”

That was six weeks ago. People don’t change in six weeks.

“Yes.”

“I’ve known you a lot longer than six weeks, Mister Cross,” Hunter said. He tried to laugh, but the scratch in his chest turned into a hacking cough. He spat out blood. It, too, gleamed like mercury. “I felt like every night with you made me a better man. Just sitting in our room for a few hours at a time. Talking to you. Being near you. My dad always told me to make the best of a shit situation, so I did. I just… never wanted it to end.”

Ethan could think of a million things to say to that, but he supposed it all boiled down to the same question. “So what happens now?”

With the knife in his hand, Hunter began to walk around the platform, slitting throats. He cut the throat of the Jack Allen behind Sarah, the ones that had been pursuing Ethan and Kyla, the one that had killed the Attendant, the one threatening Fernanda and Adeline.

Hunter said, “Now, I do what I was brought here to do. I’ve got the same power in me as Jack Allen has in himself. I’m the only one who can take care of him.”

Ethan said, “But?”

“But… let’s just say that Jack Allen and I would have to cancel each other out.”

A great weight settled in Ethan’s chest. All the horror, all the pain, and still it came down to this: two young men looking at each other in a pale light, knowing it could never last.

“That bug in your chest is terminal anyway, isn’t it?” Ethan said.

“Of course. Why do you think they let me out of Huntsville? It would have cost them a fortune to treat me.” Hunter studied the blood on his palm that he’d hacked up from his lungs. “I’d hoped you and me could have a little more time together before the whole ceremony broke down, but that’s life, right? You never get as much time as you think.”

Out of nowhere, Te’lo’hi opened his mouth and released one of those awful moans of pain.

it hurts

IT HURTS

Hunter said to Ethan, “He can’t hold out much longer. Y’all are going to have to figure something out.”

there’s nothing to do

nothing

“I hope there’s a way you can save yourselves,” Hunter said. “I really do.”

it’s over

it’s all OVER

Through the noise, Hunter pulled Ethan close again. He said, “If anyone can figure this out, it’s you.”

“Me? What amIsupposed to do?”

“You’re good with people, Ethan. I don’t think a god is all that different at the end of the day.”

Hunter squeezed him tighter. For a brief, hideous moment, Ethan couldn’t imagine ever letting go of this embrace.

The man went on. “I have money in California. A lot of it. If you make it out of this, you’ll find instructions on where to get it. There’ll be more than enough to get you started again.”

“Do I want to know how you made that money?”

“Money is money, Ethan. Just use it wisely.”

Te’lo’hi started to moan again, and this time he didn’t seem able to stop. Ethan remembered this sound from last night: when the mountain had started to scream like this, uninterrupted, things were about to end.