Chapter Twenty-Five: Late Departure

“We are such stuff

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.”

-Prospero, The Tempest

            “Well, that’s wonderful,” said Helen as Hendricks helped her down into the elevator. “Now we’ve got a half-hour to do what’s taken us two days so far!”

            “At least they’re gone,” said Hendricks, jabbing the ground-floor button repeatedly. “That might make things a little easier…”

            “There’s still Python, though,” she pointed out. “And the Octodile, and whatever other things they left behind.

            “Yeah, well, we’ll just have to hope we don’t run into them,” said Hendricks with a grimace.

            “At least now I know what ‘Kobras’ is,” Helen said. “Or, rather, who he is.”

            “But what does it mean?”

            Helen’s brow furrowed.

            “The Dog only said that it was someone who lived a long time ago, and who did the same sort of thing that Prosser was doing.” She shrugged. “I guess he thinks he’s taking over the legacy. God, this thing is slow, isn’t it?”

            The elevator was indeed moving at what seemed to the two of them an unnecessarily sedate pace. They hadn’t noticed it before, but all of a sudden they both thought that this was the slowest damn elevator they had ever been in.

            “By the way,” she said. “You broke your promise.”

            “Yeah,” he said, suddenly becoming very interested in the ‘door-close’ button. “I don’t usually do that, but in this case I thought I’d make an exception.”

            “Well, I’ll forgive you this time,” she said, with an attempt at a smile. “But don’t make a habit of it.”

            “Promise,” said Hendricks. “For what it’s worth.”

            She chuckled, but in a way that sounded like she was forcing herself to do something that she didn’t have the energy for.

            “Hendricks,” she said slowly. “Uh, I probably should say something just, you know, in case…”

            He looked at her, and she looked back at him. She faltered, and before she could resume the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

            “Hold that thought until we get out of here,” said Hendricks, offering his hand. She took it, and hand-in-hand they ran for it, down the hall and out the door. In the pre-dawn light they could see that there was no one in sight, human or otherwise. The gate was closed, but it hardly mattered since the fence had been ripped open.

            The sight of this and the looming, black jungle before them gave them pause, as the thought of running through the dense woods with unknown horrors lurking about the island was not appealing in the least.

            “Hendricks,” said Helen. “Let’s go down the coast; that way at least they can only attack from one direction.”

            He nodded and they veered left, took the small intervening section of brush at a run, and emerged on the narrow, grassy strip that sloped down to the cliffs’ edge.

            It was a dangerous walk, since the grass was slippery and there was only about ten feet of space between the trees and precipice, forcing them to keep closer to the forest than they would have liked. Hendricks gripped Helen’s hand in his left and his revolver in his right, keeping his eyes fixed on the trees, scanning for any movement. But, by great good luck, they didn’t run into anything during that segment of their journey, and when the cliffs began to sink lower and the beach opened up before them, they began to feel the first strands of hope; were they really going to make it after all?

             They rushed down the steep, tree-lined slope, doing their best not to go tumbling head-over-heels in their hurry. Then they were just at the bottom, where the trees had vanished and only underbrush remained, when Hendricks suddenly seized Helen and pulled her down painfully behind a clump of bushes.

            The reason was that now they had a clear view of the beach, and the Octodile, looking ten-times as big in the dim light of dawn, was advancing out of the trees to their right barely thirty feet away. They suddenly felt very glad indeed that they hadn’t gone through the forest.

On land the Octodile moved, not with the clumsy, waddling gait of a crocodile, but with a single, continuous forward motion as first the foremost tentacle pulled and the rearmost pushed it along, then the inner pair replaced them, and then the cycle repeated, so that the Octodile’s movement was more like it were on treads than anything else.

            “It’s headed for the ocean,” Helen whispered.

            So it was. The Octodile’s long, ugly face was pointed out to sea, its beady eyes fixed purposefully on the water.

            “Shouldn’t we…do something?” Helen asked. “I mean, we can’t just let it escape…”

            “What, though?” Hendricks replied. “Do you really think a revolver is going to do much good against that?”

            Helen looked from the massive beast, which was just crawling into the surf, to the small gun in Hendricks’s hand.

            “No,” she admitted with a sigh. “But I think the world’s going to regret that that thing got out.”

            Hendricks watched the Octodile ride the surf for a second then vanish beneath the waves.

            “I think you’re right,” he said, checking his watch. “But we don’t have time to worry about that now; come on, we’ve got less than twenty minutes.”

            They left their hiding places and raced along the beach, keeping as far away from both the ocean and the trees for as long as they could. Spotting the path back to the villa, they scrambled up the slope, took a second to gather their strength, and ran down the path as fast as their tired legs would go. They met nothing along the way.

            The mansion, when it came into view, was a shocking sight. Huge chunks of the wall were missing, exposing the interior like a doll’s house. One turret had been ripped away entirely and was lying on the ground some ways off.

            Helen and Hendricks didn’t allow themselves time to be alarmed by these ominous signs. They simply raced through the front doors and down the rubbish-strewn hallways (it seemed an eternity since they had seen them last, though really it was only three days at most) to Prosser’s office. Hendricks kicked the doors open the moment they reached them, and he and Helen rushed through the still-shattered mirror and down the narrow steps.

            They emerged into the enormous, empty room. Only now it wasn’t so empty. The bodies of three guards lay near the door; two of them had their heads lopped off, the other…didn’t.

            But they couldn’t pause to investigate, even if they had wanted to, because the dead guards weren’t the only things in that massive, eerie space; a pair of gleaming yellow eyes shone through the darkness in front of them. Then a loud hiss, and they only just had time to spring apart before Python’s acid landed just where they had been standing.

            The huge snake came forward, hissing menacingly at his last two victims. His head wavered back and forth between them, as though he couldn’t decide which to attack first. Then, making up his mind, he turned to Helen, fangs bared.

            “No you don’t!” Hendricks yelled, raising his gun and emptying it against Python’s scales. He didn’t expect it to have much affect, so he wasn’t disappointed by the fact that the bullets simply bounced off. But he did expect it to distract the snake, which it didn’t. Python lunged at Helen, who dove aside just in time to avoid his snapping jaws.

            Hendricks seized one of the guard’s assault rifles and, screaming as loud as he could, fired on Python’s head. The bullets ricocheted off his scales, but they pierced the softer tissue of Python’s mouth. That got his attention. 

            Forgetting entirely about Helen, Python whipped ‘round and spat acid at Hendricks, who dove aside out of the way, rolled, and came up again, firing.

            “Helen!” He shouted. “Run for it!”

Python whipped his tail out at Hendricks, but Hendricks dropped onto his stomach just in time. Scrambling to his feet again, he fired the last few bullets, threw the rifle aside, and, now completely defenseless, stood glaring up at Python, his brown eyes meeting the snake’s yellow ones unflinchingly.

Meanwhile, Helen had not run for it. Instead, she had crawled over to the dead guards, intending to grab a rifle herself (not bothering to ask what good it would do). As she pulled the rifle off one of them, however, she dislodged his grenade, which rolled onto the floor.

            A sudden inspiration struck her.

 Dropping the rifle, she seized the grenade and leapt to her feet, her excitement overcoming her exhaustion.

“Hendricks!” she called, waving it in the air. “You played baseball, right?”

“Yeah,” said Hendricks, not taking his eyes off the looming snake. “But I was never any good at it!”

“Well, here’s a chance to do better! Catch!”

And she threw the grenade at him as hard as she could. Hendricks turned toward it, but the moment his eyes left Python, the snake spat, and Hendricks had to attempt a leaping catch to avoid the stream of acid.

He missed.

But as the grenade sailed passed him, Python coiled around behind him, so the grenade, instead of rolling off into the darkness, bounced off his scales and landed only a foot from Hendricks’s hand. He snatched it up, but the instant he rose to his feet he had to spring aside as Python snapped at the spot he had been a second before.

“Hey!” Helen shouted, picking the rifle back up and firing. “Hey, over here!”

Python paused, looking back at Helen.

“No! No, over here! Come on!” Hendricks shouted. “Come and get it!”

Helen dropped the rifle and stood rigid. Python wavered…then turned back to Hendricks.

He had used Helen’s distraction to put a little distance between them, but now he was backing away, gripping the grenade tightly as Python came streaming towards him, murder in his yellow eyes.

Hendricks pulled the pin. Python was closing fast now, his jaws were open, ready to swallow Hendricks whole.

“Now!” Helen called. “Throw it!”

Hendricks hesitated a moment longer, letting Python draw closer…twenty-feet…ten…

Hendricks threw the grenade straight into the snake’s open mouth and dove aside. Python’s jaws snapped shut on empty air, and the next second the grenade went off.

            The explosion tore Python’s head and much of his upper body to pieces. Blood, flesh, and bone flew in all directions, coating the ground. Nevertheless, what was left of his body kept moving for a second, propelled forward by his own momentum, and crashed in ruin on top of Hendricks.

            “Hendricks!”

            Helen screamed in horror and ran to where the snake’s body had fallen. Reaching the spot where Hendricks had disappeared, she plunged her hands into the bloody pile before her and started to dig, calling his name over and over.

Don’t be dead, she thought desperately. You can’t be dead! Not after all that!

After only a few seconds of digging – though it felt like a lot longer – she found him. To her immense relief the moment she cleared the torn snake-flesh off of his face he gasped for breath and started to cough up blood, though whether his own or Python’s she couldn’t tell.

“Oh, thank God!” she said, trying to dig out the rest of him.

            Hendricks, once his arms were free, propped himself up on them and looked at Helen, breathing hard.

            “Are you alright?” he gasped.

            “Am…am I alright?!”

            Helen felt as though she might explode. She stared at him wide eyed for a few seconds, made some indistinct sounds that may have been attempts at finding the right words to express her indignation at his asking such a question at such a time, then, as though something inside her had finally snapped, she threw her arms around Hendricks’s neck and kissed him.

            The happiness that flooded them both as they embraced was so complete, so all-encompassing, that they couldn’t sure how long they had stayed like that. When at last they broke apart (not caring that now they were both covered with the snake’s blood), they just smiled into each other’s face for a few seconds. Then:

            “We really didn’t have time for that,” Hendricks observed.

            “You’re probably right. Let’s go.”

            She got up, pulled him to his feet, and they ran the whole length of the enormous room, found the far door, and raced down the winding passage, forcing their tired legs to work for just one last sprint. Hendricks half-expected to see Charles waiting for them again, but the doorway was empty and they passed it without stopping.

            Their biggest fear was that the docks had been destroyed, or that someone else had beaten them to the boat. But, with an exclamation of profound thanks, they found everything just as they had left it days before; the white speedboat sat bobbing in the water, waiting for them.

            Hendricks untied them as fast as his shaking hands would work, while Helen started up the engine. As soon as they were free, Hendricks leapt aboard, seized the controls, and urged the boat forward. They were moving, but in the narrow, winding cavern he didn’t dare go too fast. The suspense was terrible; every bend he expected to see the cave entrance, and every time they just saw more cave, while the precious seconds and minutes ticked inevitably by.

            Finally, they spotted the entrance. The instant he was facing it, Hendricks jammed on the throttle. The boat roared to life, lifted up its prow, and raced out into the open ocean. He didn’t know what direction they were going, but he didn’t care; they just needed to get as far away as possible as fast as possible.

            “Hendricks,” Helen said suddenly a few minutes later. “Time’s up.”

            Hendricks looked back. They weren’t far enough away yet…

            A flash, brighter than the sun, shone behind them. It was too late.

            No! he thought. We did not go through all that for ‘too late!’

            Seized by what seemed like their only hope, he cut the power to the boat. Then, before she could ask what he was doing, he grabbed Helen and pulled her overboard.

            Under the water, he embraced her and shut his eyes. She, grasping what he was trying to do, did the same.

            A rumbling roar, louder than anything either of them had ever heard, washed over them. At the same time, the water around them seemed to ripple and then to rush onward, carrying them with it. It was like being caught in the biggest wave of all time. They clung to each other as they were sent tumbling on through the water, their bodies straining at the terrible forces unleashed upon them…

            Then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Hendricks opened his eyes and saw Helen doing them same. Smiles broke out across both their faces as they clawed their way to the surface. A mile or so behind them a huge, black mushroom cloud hung over what had been Matoul. The rumblings of the bomb could still dimly be heard echoing across the Caribbean.

            “I would have bet anything that wouldn’t have worked,” gasped Helen as soon as she had the breath to speak.

            “It kind of surprised me too,” said Hendricks. “But I figured it was either stay on the boat and definitely die, or jump and probably die.”

            “Good choice,” she said. “Speaking of which, what do we do now without the boat?”

            “Uh…hadn’t thought that far ahead,” Hendricks admitted, looking around him at the open expanse of water. “Oh, wait; there it is!”

            Indeed, there it was. Upside down and several hundred yards away, but the boat had indeed survived.

            “Now what?” Helen asked when they had climbed on top of it.

            “Now I guess we just wait until someone finds us,” said Hendricks. “You know, before we die of thirst, or get eaten by the Octodile or something.”

            “Or die of radiation exposure.”

            “Yeah, that too.”

            “Well, it shouldn’t be too long before someone comes out here,” she said. “I mean, a nuclear blast did just occur a couple hundred miles away from Key West.”

            “Oh yeah,” he said. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

            Indeed, only a few moments later, Hendricks spotted a silvery glint in the distance.

            “Speak of the devil,” he said excitedly, pointing. “That’s a helicopter!”

            They started waving and calling as it drew nearer and nearer, coming in at top-speed.

            “Oh no!” Hendricks said suddenly. “That’s the helicopter Prosser had!”

            “What?” Helen gasped. “Why would they come back?”

            “Probably to finish us off,” Hendricks said, looking helplessly at her. He didn’t see any way out.

            The helicopter swooped in low over them, still racing along. Helen and Hendricks ducked as it passed by. And as it did, something dropped from it; something white that tumbled in its wake, until it floated down right over their heads. Numbly, Hendricks reached up and caught it.

            It was a panama hat.

            “No way,” he muttered.

            In a moment, the helicopter swooped over them again and came in to a hover.

“Hello!” called Ralph Zanator from the cockpit, his booming voice audible even over the helicopter blades. “Glad to see you both in one piece! I thought you might need a lift!”

In another moment, they had climbed in and were speeding off in the direction of the rising sun.

            Helen and Hendricks rushed into the cockpit. Helen threw her arms around Ralph and kissed him on the cheek. 

            “Ralph, I thought you were dead!” said Hendricks shakily, holding out his hat.

            “Not at all!” said Ralph, taking it and clamping it down over his headset. “I told you I would be fine!”

            “How did you get away from Hank?”

            “Ha!” Ralph laughed. “I just told him who I was, and he practically ran for it!”

            Helen and Hendricks exchanged skeptical looks.

            “More or less,” Ralph amended. “There was running involved anyway.” 

            They laughed.

            “What about this?” Hendricks asked, indicating the helicopter. “Where’d it come from?”

            “You didn’t think Prosser only had one helicopter, did you?” he said. “I certainly didn’t. When I saw them fly off I decided it might be profitable to investigate. And so it was!”

            He laughed his booming laugh.

            “Poor Hogan, though…” said Helen, her face falling.

            “Yes,” said Ralph. “He was a brave man and a good soldier. Let us never forget him.”

            They nodded sadly.

            “You two had better strap in,” Ralph continued. “It’ll be a good hour or so before we make landfall. Rest for a time, and forget your sadness, and  ‘let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart that doth not wish you joy!’”

Helen and Hendricks took their seats in the passenger compartment and he put his arm around her.  He leaned back into the seat and she leaned back onto him. They both felt as though they could just go to sleep for days right then and there.  

            “We made it,” Helen said softly as she watched the mushroom cloud fade into the distance through the window. “I can’t believe we actually made it…”

            “Well, almost,” said Hendricks. “I’m not gonna relax until we’re in Key West.”

            Helen gave a weak chuckle. She was already starting to drift off.

            “So what’ll you do now?” she asked sleepily.

            “You know, I think I’ll stick with police work after all,” said Hendricks. “I’m starting to really like protecting people.”

            He gave her a little squeeze and she smiled.

            “How about you?”

            “Well,” she said. “I suppose first I’d better patch things up with the Governor. That’s about as far as I can think right now.”

            She heaved a sigh.

            “You know,” she said as she closed her eyes. “I think I like being alive.”

            She took his hand and gripped it tightly.

            “Thank you.”

            He kissed her forehead and watched as she fell asleep on his shoulder.

            “My God,” he whispered as he smoothed her hair back from her face. “You are so beautiful. I love you so much.”

            Helen watched Hendricks watching her sleep and smiled happily.

            “Glad to see you made it.”

            She turned around. The great White Dog was sitting next to her, smiling in his doggy fashion.

            Helen hugged him tightly and kissed him, burying her face in his sweet-smelling fur.

            “We couldn’t have done it without you,” she said. “Thank you.”

            “That’s what I’m here for,” said the Dog. “And I think you’re both going to be fine now. Kobras is going to have to go into hiding for a while, so he’ll have too much on his mind to bother about you for a long time yet. And you are going to be back under the protection of the Governor; well outside his reach.”

            “Will he ever rebuild?” she asked. “I mean, he’s not going to stop, is he? He’s still going to make more monsters and things, right?”

            “Let us say, for the present, that the world has not heard the last of him or his plans. But, on the bright side, now it still has you to warn it if he tries anything.”

            Helen smiled.

            “And I’ve got you to help me.”

            The Dog continued to smile, but she thought it became tinged with sadness.

            “Yes,” he said. “I’ll always be there to help you. But you won’t be able to see me again for a long time.”

            “What?” she said, staring up at him. “Why not?”

            “I have my job to do,” he said. “And my orders to follow. Appearing to you like this was an emergency procedure, and now that you’re safe it has to stop.”

            Helen felt as though she wanted to cry.

            “I don’t understand.”

            “No,” he said. “I don’t expect you to. But understanding is not necessary for acceptance. And remember, I’m not going away! I’ll still be watching over you, even if you can’t see me.”      

            Helen sniffed once, composed herself, and nodded.

            “Oh well,” she said. “I guess I didn’t think you’d be around forever, but I wish you’d stay for a bit longer.”

            “Sorry,” he said. “I can’t. That’s just the way it is. But you’ll be fine; you have your dreams, and, well, plenty to occupy you.”

            He nodded at Hendricks and Helen couldn’t suppress a grin.

            “Well, before you go,” she said. “Can I at least know who you are?”

            The Dog looked at her lovingly and seemed to consider.

            “For the present,” he said. “I can only tell you this:”

            He touched her forehead with his tongue, and Helen once again felt warmth and courage and peace flowing into her. The sea, the boat, the Dog, and everything else seemed to fade into a white mist as the Dog spoke for the last time.

            “I am one of the Seven.”

            As far as she could remember, Helen had no more dreams for the rest of the journey.