The Apocalypse Script by Samuel Fort Page B

the
passenger.
    Lilian scrunched up her nose. “I
was hoping to do better than that.”
    “ Still, pretty cool,” said Ben,
because it was. “What happened next?”
    The storyteller blew through one
red light and then a second. A cacophony of car horns chased after
them. Seeming not to notice, she said, “With a howl of frustration
the stranger allegedly passed through the portal to the land of his
god. His priests - locals who had adopted his god of their own free
will – fled into the jungle. Most were tracked down and
killed.”
    “ Which brings me back to my
original question. How did Ridley end up with the
tablets?”
    “ Ah. As luck would have it, a
member of our society, a Nisirtu, was being escorted through the
region by a local resident the evening the ceremony was conducted.
He claimed to have witnessed the entire episode and made a record
of it.”
    Ben laughed. “Okay, you’re telling
me that the he actually saw monsters?”
    “ Of course not.
I am telling you that is what the he reported seeing, probably after
chewing on a few too many cocoa leaves.”
    “ Any idea what turned the monsters
into purple goo?”
    “ According to
our legendary explorer, ‘twas time that killed the
beasts.”
    “ Huh?”
    “ He said he interviewed one of the
Sillum’s captured followers, who implied that the ceremony had
failed because the beings came from some place very near ‘the
Nothingness,’ a place where time is almost, but not quite, at a
standstill. Thus they were unable to acclimate to this reality,
which is ‘rich’ in time. Their physical bodies couldn’t handle
it.”
    Ben pushed out his lower lip.
“‘Time depressurization?’”
    “ Or
pressurization, if you like. But according to the disciple, the
Sillum had other followers who would pursue their master’s cause
and someday they would find a way to bring him back to try again;
that there were things that could be done when the stars were right. It was only a matter of time, the prisoner said, before the
ceremony succeeded. He was beheaded shortly thereafter.
    “ Said Nisirtu had the Sillum’s
tablets removed from the failed gateway and shipped to one of our
society’s buildings in what is now Argentina. There they sat
neglected for a very long time, until my father came across them.
When my father died he left them to Ridley, who was his closest
friend.”
    Lilian cut across three lanes of
traffic to reach an exit ramp. More horns blared behind them. “And
that, sir, concludes the legend of the tablets.”
    Ben grunted his approval. “If the
tablets end up being authentic, I’ll include the backstory as part
of my research paper. The media will love it.”
    “ Ridley can add to the narrative.
I’m sure I missed some juicy parts.” She reached out with one hand
and ran her fingers playfully through his hair. “Perhaps we should
take a break for a little while, though? You look like you’re about
to pass out.”
    Ben sighed, disappointed that she
had noticed. The painkillers and the lack of sleep really were
beginning to make him lightheaded.
    He said, “What kind of perfume are you wearing?”
    “ Private label.”
    “ It’s nice.”
    “ Thank you.”
    His eyelids began to droop. “Maybe
I’ll just shut my eyes for a few minutes.”
    Lilian nodded. “That would be
best.”
    As his seat was whirring to a reclined position, he
said, “Lilian?”
    “ Yes, Ben?”
    “ Try not to kill us on the way to
Steepleguard.”
    The driver tapped the brakes,
skidded fifty feet, and downshifted to navigate a hairpin turn. She
said, “You worry too much.”

Chapter 6 - Arrival at Steepleguard

    The funnel cloud descended from
the black sky and sucked him out of the car, throwing him into a
gray fog. Ben felt himself falling. Surveying the brown terrain
below he realized that the vortex had carried him back to
Afghanistan.
    As soon as he was on the ground he
heard the terrible high-pitched screech of a base alarm, followed
by a man’s